Sceliphron curvatum

Nest of mud ready to be filled with spiders.

Sceliphron curvatum is 15 to 25 millimetres (0.6 to 1.0 in) long and is coloured black with yellow and red ornaments. It builds nests of mud on the walls of buildings, but also very often indoors on piles of books, clothes or pieces of furniture. Every nest is filled with paralyzed spiders, which serve as food for the larvae. Like all Sceliphron species, S. curvatum is not aggressive unless threatened.

Larva and spiders in the nest of S. curvatum

Formerly, the species was distributed in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Tadjikistan in submontaneous regions at the highest mountain ranges of the world: Himalayas, Karakoram and Pami. It was first recorded in Europe in 1979, when a female was collected near the village of Grätsch in southeastern Austria. It is assumed that S. curvatum was introduced to Europe as a result of human activity, but after that the species has been spreading throughout Europe on its own. S. curvatum has been quickly enlarging its range, forming mighty populations in anthropogenous localities (towns, villages) in southern and central Europe. Since 1979 the species has expanded to several other European countries: Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, France, Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine, Portugal, Poland and Romania.

• P. Bogush; P. Liška; J. Lukáš & A. Dudich (2005). "Spreading and summary of the knowledge of the invasive sphecid wasp Sceliphron curvatum (Smith 1870) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Hymenoptera: Apocrita, Sphecidae)" (PDF). Linzer Biologische Beiträge. 37 (1): 215–221.