Potter Wasp Nest
4 September 2025

I found these potter wasp nests while pruning the plants on my balcony last September. Apparently I’m doing something right; I’ve noticed new species every year since I started planting native wildflowers around the property. Should I start logging observations?

#PenAndInk #NaturalHistoryArt #Art #PotterWasp #MasonWasp #Eumeninae #Vespid

Potter Wasp Nest
4 September 2025

Potter Wasp Nest (study in graphite)
3 September 2025

Yesterday was the first time I’ve seen potter wasp nests in my garden. These vespids can be beneficial, collecting beetle larvae and caterpillars to provision their offspring. They lay a single egg in each pot and seal the entrance.

#InkDrawing #PenAndInk #NaturalHistoryArt #PotterWasp #MasonWasp #Eumeninae #Vespid #Art

This might be a Lobed Mason Wasp or a Canadian Potter Wasp.

#wasp #bees #PotterWasp #MasonWasp #insects

Brown Mason Wasp - Euodynerus sp

Mason wasps (or Potter wasps), the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Most eumenine species are black or brown, and commonly marked with strikingly contrasting patterns of yellow, white, orange, or red (or combinations thereof), but some species, mostly from tropical regions, show faint to strong blue or green metallic highlights in the background colours. Like most vespids, their wings are folded longitudinally at rest. Eumenine wasps are diverse in nest building. The different species may either use existing cavities (such as beetle tunnels in wood, abandoned nests of other Hymenoptera, or even man-made holes like old nail holes and screw shafts on electronic devices) that they modify in several degrees, or they construct their own either underground or exposed nests. The nest may have one or several individual brood cells. The most widely used building material is mud made of a mixture of soil and regurgitated water, but many species use chewed plant material, instead. (Source: Wikipedia)

#wildlife #animals #insects #masonwasp #photography #australia

Other things on Japanese Privet

Canon SL2/200D - Tamron SP AF 90mm Macro (72e) Lens - ISO 100 - Aperture: f/10 - Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec

#photo #photography #insects #bee #HooverFly #fly #MasonWasp #GreenBottleFly #FloweringBush #JapanesePrivet #closeup #CanonSL2 #TamronMacro