This Solitary Wasp Is Indifferent to Humans, Cruel to Spiders, and Neglectful of Her Children

Each month, we get to know one of the state’s many wonderful and quirky critters. Latin name: SceliphroncaementariumSize: Up to one inch longHabitat: Statewide (including my deck) At first I wanted to kill it. The mud dauber set up shop this spring on the frame of the door leading to my deck, coming and going through a rip in the screen. Its nest—a fist-size, patchwork clump of mud—grew daily, and every time I stepped outside, I had to do some evasive moves to avoid the wasp. I worried it was merely a sentry and more (a colony, perhaps) would soon join it. But as time went by without further arrivals and without a sting, the wasp became my wasp. I came to see it as a gentle…

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