Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What are these strange insect nodules on my front porch?

+0
−0

Twice this summer, I've found some little brown domes / nodules attached to the window sills or the porch railing. They seem to be made by some sort of insect and I think when I removed them, there were some sort of larvae inside.

I live in North Carolina, in the United States.

Anyone know what these are?

Image of odd nodules

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/13545. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

I would vote for the Potter wasp. The nests of it look like a jug made out of mud.

Nest

Nest-2

The potter wasps have at least two generations each season. That might explain why you've had this nest twice. Of course I can't say that for certain.

But what really brought me to conclusion was your "some sort of larvae inside". The female potter wasp lays one egg in the nest. So, you actually have on larvae and it looks quite strange :):

Larvae

After the female wasp shapes the mud nest, she places some paralyzed caterpillars and an egg inside the jug and then seals the opening. When the egg hatches, the wasp larva consumes the caterpillars. Then it spins a cocoon within the mud cell. In the photo (above), I have split open the jug to reveal the wasp larva. The larva is protruding slightly from its cocoon.

Sources and further reading on Nature Posts

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »