The clay nesting block installed last season has not seen any nest builders yet, but it was used in a different manner. Several specimens of Auplopus carbonarius ^[1] wasps collected clay for the construction of their nests.

The freed clay particles are diluted with water, sucked up by the wasps at water sources before they start collecting the clay. The diluted clay is shaped into a ball that is transported to the nest using the feelers and jaws.

One of the females constructed her nest within one meter of the clay block and flew off and on it, alternating between flights to the largest water source located within fifty centimeters of the nest.

---

Literature

¹ Nederlands Soortenregister