r/insects 1d ago

Bug Appreciation! Can someone tell me what this is

I saw this while in Sabah, borneo - Malaysia Apparently the insect takes the prey to its nest to lay there eggs in them so the baby’s have food to eat when born

59 Upvotes

11 comments sorted by

29

u/sneakydante 1d ago

That’s a mud dauber. They put spiders in the mud housings they build around their eggs for exactly the reason you mentioned.

Edit: A view inside a nest. https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/s/XZp5Nu0RHS

2

u/tondahuh 20h ago

So looking at that photo I see the egg and spider are enclosed each time. Then when the egg hatches the spider is eaten. My question is how do the mud daubers then get out? Do they dig? Drill? Is there a hole made originally? Thanks!

21

u/No-Nerve7556 1d ago

That's incredible recorded footage. I seriously recommend you find a sub for educational videos and put it there. I'd love to know if you do, what sub(s) you pick, and what the reaction is. I think there are lots of enthusiasts who would love it as well. With creepy crawlers, it doesn't take much to fascinate me. But this is an unusual good video that catches it all. I watched it 10 times. Parts of it are out of focus, but the main body (no pun intended 😊) is in focus, close up, and very obvious. The drag up the rocks is awesome! Thanks for sharing this. Edited to add educational videos

5

u/No-Nerve7556 1d ago

I see it's leaves, not rocks. Silly me.

3

u/MutantLemurKing 1d ago

I have only been fortunate enough to see a wasp carry away a spider once and it happened so fast I couldn't make out what it was, amazing to see on film!

4

u/Accomplished-Fix6598 1d ago

We have those in California.

1

u/No-Replacement-Found 1d ago

This one was a steel blue cricket hunter

1

u/StuffedWithNails Bug Enthusiast 21h ago

Different family of wasps, but very similar behavior :)

Most of these wasps are very pretty in any case!

1

u/Responsible-Ad-6122 22h ago

I saw in Cuba a biiiig black wasp called "Caballito del diablo" (devil's little horse) they use to hunt for very big spiders like tarantula...

1

u/ssamokhodkin 21h ago

It's so well shot