''Monobia quadridens'', also known as the four-toothed mason wasp, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of solitary

potter wasp Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan wasp group currently considered a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Mud dauber wasps, which al ...

(subfamily

Eumeninae Potter wasps (or mason wasps), the Eumeninae, are a cosmopolitan wasp group currently considered a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae. Mud dauber wasps, which also build their nests with m ...

) found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. It grows to a wingspan of , and feeds on small

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s and

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

. Two generations occur per year, with one generation

overwintering Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activ ...

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

Description

The

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

of ''M. quadridens'' is entirely black, except for a broad ivory-coloured band on the first

tergite A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; : ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the Anatomical terms of location#Dorsal and ventral, dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The Anatomical terms of location#Anterior ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is typically for males, and for females. It closely resembles ''

Euodynerus ''Euodynerus'' is a genus of potter wasps with a mainly Holarctic distribution, though a number of species extend through Indomalayan, Australasian, Afrotropical and northern Neotropical regions. Also, a single species is reported from Hawaii. ...

bidens'' in size and colouration.

Distribution

''Monobia quadridens'' has a wide distribution in eastern North America. In

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, it is found in the states of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

and

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

, while in the United States, it is found from

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

east to the Eastern Seaboard. The occurrence of the species in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

has been recorded by Buck (2008 https://cjai.biologicalsurvey.ca/bmc_05/pdf/bmc05.pdf) and specimens identified as ''M. quadridens'' have been present in Canadian entomological collections for a long time.

Taxonomy

''Monobia quadridens'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

in his 1763 work ''

Centuria Insectorum file:Centuria Insectorum.png, The first page of ''Centuria Insectorum'', as included in ''Amoenitates Academicæ'' ' (Latin, "one hundred insects") is a 1763 Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Jo ...

'', under the name ''Vespa quadridens''.

Life cycle and ecology

''Monobia quadridens'' is

bivoltine Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism. ...

, having two generations in a year. One emerges in summer, while the other

overwinters Overwintering is the process by which some organisms pass through or wait out the winter season, or pass through that period of the year when "winter" conditions (cold or sub-zero temperatures, ice, snow, limited food supplies) make normal activi ...

as pupae before emerging the following spring.

Copulation Sexual intercourse (also coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion of the erect male penis inside the female vagina and followed by thrusting motions for sexual pleasure, reproduction, or both.Sexual inte ...

lasts for 30 minutes in ''M. quadridens'', while in most wasp species, it only lasts a minute or two. It nests in a variety of cavities including tunnels abandoned by

carpenter bee Carpenter bees are species in the genus ''Xylocopa'' of the subfamily Xylocopinae. The genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant m ...

s, old nests built by

mud dauber Mud dauber (or "mud wasp") is a name commonly applied to a number of wasps from either the family Sphecidae or Crabronidae which build their nests from mud; this excludes members of the family Vespidae (especially the subfamily Eumeninae), which a ...

s, and hollow plant stems. The diet of ''M. quadridens'' is primarily composed of

s of

microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to iden ...

, including species from the families

Pyralidae The Pyralidae, commonly called pyralid moths, snout moths or grass moths, are a family of Lepidoptera in the ditrysian superfamily Pyraloidea. In many (particularly older) classifications, the grass moths (Crambidae) are included in the Pyr ...

Crambidae Crambidae comprises the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, with the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies ...

Elachistidae The Elachistidae (grass-miner moths) are a family of small moths in the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea. Some authors lumpers and splitters, lump about 3,300 species in eight subfamilies here, but this arrangement almost certainly result ...

, Amphisbatidae,

Gelechiidae The Gelechiidae are a family of moths commonly referred to as twirler moths or gelechiid moths. They are the namesake family of the huge and little-studied Taxonomic rank, superfamily Gelechioidea, and the family's taxonomy (biology), taxonomy ...

, and

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genu ...

. The diet also includes a large proportion of

Sting

Like many wasps, ''M. quadridens'' is capable of delivering a

sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

. The pain caused by the sting of a female is similar to that caused by the

bald-faced hornet ''Dolichovespula maculata'' is a species of wasp in the genus ''Dolichovespula'' and a member of the eusocial, cosmopolitan family Vespidae. It is taxonomically an aerial yellowjacket but is known by many colloquial names, primarily bald-faced ...

or the

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

'' Myrmecia nigriceps''. Unlike most other wasps, however, the male is also capable of delivering a painful jab like a needle prick, although no

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

is injected, so the pain is transient. The male has no

stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of ve ...

and uses the tip of its abdomen.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4044469 Potter wasps Hymenoptera of North America Insects described in 1763 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus