# Avispa alfarera

*Sceliphron caementarium and related genera*

**Confianza en la identificación:** Identificable con cuidado

## Cómo reconocerla

- The waist is extremely long and thread-like, far more elongated than any other common wasp — this alone identifies the group.
- Body is slender, 12 to 25 mm, usually glossy black, sometimes with yellow markings or a metallic blue sheen.
- The nest is a hardened mud structure — either a smooth lump or a set of parallel tubes resembling organ pipes — plastered to a sheltered vertical surface.

## Qué rastros deja

- Mud tubes or lumps on walls, ceilings, under eaves, in garages and sheds, and in disused equipment.
- Solitary wasps flying slowly and repeatedly to the same spot carrying mud.

## Por qué persiste una infestación

Solitary and non-defensive; they do not guard the nest and sting only if handled directly. They provision nests with spiders, including widows, so they are genuinely beneficial. Old nests are frequently reused by other insects.


## Dónde se encuentra

Throughout the United States.

## Qué la previene

- Scrape old mud nests off surfaces once activity has ended, then clean the area.
- Screen open sheds and outbuildings if nesting is unwanted.

## Se confunde con

- **Avispa papelera** (*Polistes spp.*) — Long, slender body with a very narrow waist, 16 to 25 mm, usually brown with yellow or reddish markings.

**Verdict:** prevention-first. Non-aggressive, beneficial, and nests are removed mechanically once inactive.

Source: https://againstpest.shop/es/identificar/insectos-que-pican/avispa-alfarera/