Bug FAQFraternal Potter Wasp
Eumenes fraternus · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Vespidae
Also called: Brotherly Potter Wasp
The fraternal potter wasp is a 15-20 mm black insect with ivory markings and a long, slender first abdominal segment. Females build mud pots, lay an egg inside, and provision it with a live caterpillar; adults mainly sip nectar and some pollen. It lives in the eastern United States and Canada, ranging west to Ontario, Minnesota, Kansas and Texas, and flies from April to November in places like North Carolina.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Its body is black with scattered ivory-coloured spots. The first abdominal segment is long, thin at the front and widens toward the back.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure about 15 to 20 mm in length. Male forewings are 8 to 10.5 mm long; female forewings are 10 to 12.5 mm long.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult wasps feed mainly on flower nectar and also on protein-rich pollen.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The female builds a small mud pot, lays an egg inside, and places a live caterpillar for the larva to eat.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
It is active from about April through November in North Carolina. The species occurs throughout the eastern United States and Canada.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its range extends west to Ontario, Minnesota, Kansas and Texas in North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It has shorter hair on the first antennal segment than the similar E. crucifera and E. verticalis.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 40 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Florida, New York, Maryland, North Carolina.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Vespidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eumenes_fraternus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.