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Nesting preferences of native and non-native mud dauber wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae: Sceliphron) do not completely overlap

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Abstract

Sceliphron caementarium and Sceliphron curvatum are non-native species in Europe with former distributions in North America and Asia, respectively. Both species create nests of mud that are usually located inside, on the surface of, or near buildings. Though both species have been studied many times, knowledge on their nesting biology is based on a few studies with small numbers of non-analysed observational data. By collecting information on 123 S. caementarium nests, 341 S. curvatum nests, and 75 nests of the most widespread native species, Sceliphron destillatorium, the nesting place preferences of the wasps were evaluated. The three species do not differ in their nest placements within settlements, in the sizes of the settlements where they nest, or in their nesting locations, and they differ only slightly in the heights of their nests above the ground. The main difference is that S. curvatum nests are usually hidden inside buildings, while the other two species mostly create nests on the surfaces of buildings. Thus, S. curvatum could negatively affect its native relatives due to its high population density and competition for prey, but not due to the competition for nesting sites. Neither non-native species represents any threat to crops or landscapes; the species have only limited negative effects, such as building nests in or on peoples’ houses, carrying mud and spiders to these locations, and annoying people with their loud buzzing during nest building and provisioning. They are both regarded to represent minor threat according to SEICAT classification.

Implications for insect conservation

Both two non-native species are only very little harmful for the native species and probably also for other species of bees and wasps with similar nesting biology. Their harmfulness is much lower than that of other well known invasive insects (Harmonia axyridis and Vespa velutina for example).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank to all the people who provided the data on the nests, especially to Toshko Ljubomirov (Bulgaria) and Adrian Purkart (Slovakia). Jiří Skuhrovec and Jakub Horák (both Czech Republic) read the manuscript and provided valuable comments. Additional thanks belong to Lucy Boulton (United Kingdom) for the help with the English. This study was supported by the Specific Research Grant from University of Hradec Kralove Nr. 2102/2020 and by the citizen science project Najdi je! (www.najdije.cz) supported by the grant VES19 INTER-COST No. MSMT-15739/2019-6 from MŠMT ČR.

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  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Králové, Rokitanského 62, 500 03, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

    Petr Bogusch

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10841_2022_394_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary file1 (TIF 1391 KB) Fig. S1 Map of part of Europe with the localities of nests of all three species recorded. Nest places of Sceliphron caementarium are black, S. curvatum blue and S. destillatorium red dots

Supplementary file2 (XLSX 32 KB) Table S1 List of all analysed nests

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Bogusch, P. Nesting preferences of native and non-native mud dauber wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae: Sceliphron) do not completely overlap. J Insect Conserv 26, 549–558 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-022-00394-3

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