Blue Mud Wasp: The Black Widow Killer

 

If you've ever been afraid of spiders, you've probably heard of the Black Widow spider. This poisonous spider is a cause of great fear for human beings. Fortunately, you will be very happy to know that this deadly spider also has a deadly enemy. Which is a blue wasp. The scientific name is Chalybion californium, also known as Blue Mud Wasp in English, and is famous for spider hunting.

 

Blue Mud Wasps are found everywhere in our country. They are often seen flying around wooden doors or wooden beds, tables, windows. Pretty nice to see. Their body color is dark bluish-green. Their waist is quite narrow and long. The length is usually 10 to 23 millimeters. It is found in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Hawaii, Bermuda, Southern Canada, Mexico. 

The blue wasp is drinking necter from flower

Although blue wasp hunters, the funny thing is that they are vegetarians. They eat wildflower honey and pollen. Like other species of wasps, they need flower nectar to get enough energy to fly. Adult wasps feed on flower honey, but their larvae feed on high-protein foods such as spiders. When hunting spiders, they carefully remove the spiders from their nets. The spider's legs or body are inflamed by their venomous stings which numb the spider. When the spider became unable to move, they flew it to their home. 

 

The blue wasp is hunting spiders

 

 

Building a nest of blue wasps is a sight to behold. In other words, it is a kind of home theft. Often they rebuild the nests of other yellow wasps as their own. In doing so, they remove other wasp larvae from the cell. The spider captured by the other wasps is removed and the newly captured spider is kept there. They soften the house with water. Then they lay their eggs inside the body of the newly captured sleeping spider. After laying the eggs, the wasp seals the face of the cell wall. Their larvae grow inside the body of the sleeping spider and eat the living spider from inside. It's a lot like getting up in a hurry. The larvae gradually grow from white cocoon-like cocoons to about 1 inch. The body color of the larvae is a lot of cream color. They have no legs and look like caterpillars. Usually, these wasp nests are either shady buildings seen under the bridge. 

Blue wasps are solitary. Only females build houses and provide food. They breed more than once a year.

Since blue wasps are capable of hunting venomous black widow spiders, the question that comes to mind is should we not be afraid of them? Answer: Not at all. Because although they can sting humans, they are not fierce insects at all. It will never sting you. And nothing happens to people even in their sting. So when you go out to visit nature, don't forget to observe them well.