Weekly Photo Challenge #42

For those of you who don’t know what they are looking at; it’s a mud wasps cell. I baked it in my ceramic kiln, otherwise it wouldn’t last very long. The cells are made out of clay that the wasps collect in nature. All cells were empty, so don’t worry, I didn’t kill any.

Have you ever examined a wasp collect their building materials. They fly to a nearby puddle and collect mud in their mouth. It’s amazing! Then they build the walls as would a ceramist. They then lay their eggs and add a tasty, live caterpillar or other insects that the larvae can feed on. I know, it sounds cruel but they also have the right to thrive in nature.

Questo è un nido della vespa vasaia o muratrice. E’ un abile costruttore. Raccoglie in bocca l’argilla nelle pozzanghere e costruisce i suoi vasi che ospiteranno le larve. Prima di sigillare l’apertura, deposita un uovo e aggiunge una leccornia — brucco, ragno e altri piccoli insetti che nutriranno la larva.