Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 22, 2026

Chalybion

Chalybion, also known as blue mud-dauber wasps, is a genus of wasp in the family Sphecidae. The species often nest in old, abandoned mud nests of other species and in pre-existing cavities.

Last revised
Jul 22, 2026
Read time
≈ 5 min
Length
1,118 w
Citations
22
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Chalybion
Chalybion japonicum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Sphecidae
Subfamily: Sceliphrinae
Tribe: Sceliphrini
Genus: Chalybion
Dahlbom, 1843
Type species
Chalybion californicum
(Saussure, 1867)
Species
54 extant + 1 extinct species
Synonyms1

Chalybium Agassiz, 1846

Chalybion, also known as blue mud-dauber wasps, is a genus of wasp in the family Sphecidae.2 The species often nest in old, abandoned mud nests of other species and in pre-existing cavities.

Taxonomy and phylogeny

Chalybion was originally described as a genus by Dahlbom in 1843. Kohl demoted Chalybion to a subgenus of Sceliphron in 1918 and established Hemichalybion as a sister subgenus of Sceliphron. Both Chalybion and Hemichalybion were elevated to genus status by Bohart and Menke in 1963. The same authors then demoted Hemichalybion to a subgenus of Chalybion in 1976.3

Distribution and habitat

Chalybion species are present in all continents except for Antarctica though are most common in the Nearctic4 and Paleotropic regions.5

Behavior

Females of Chalybion species nest in a wide range of natural or artificial pre-existing cavities, such as holes in stone,6 wood, in walls, and in plant stems.4 They also reuse old mud nests of other wasps, including those of Trypoxylon, Sceliphron,7 Eumeninae,8 and Ageniellini,9 or old mud nests of bees.10

C. californicum in particular is known for repurposing old nests of Sceliphron caementarium.3 The females then hunt and paralyze spiders, particularly of the families Araneidae and Theridiidae, which they use as provisions their brood cells.7

Interaction with other species

The nests of Chalybion may, themselves, be repurposed by other mud-nesting wasps, such as Eumeninae.5

Species

There are 54 described living species of Chalybion:31

Subgenus Chalybion (Chalybion) Agassiz, 1846

  • Chalybion fuscum (Lepeletier, 1845) (Madagascar, Sri Lanka)
  • Chalybion ohli Dollfuss, 2016
  • Chalybion yangi Li, 1995

Chalybion bengalense species-group

  • Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom, 1845) (Hawaii, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Socotra, South Africa; introduced in Italy11)
  • Chalybion clarebaltazarae Abenis & Lit, 2020
  • Chalybion flebile (Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1845)
  • Chalybion japonicum (Gribodo, 1880) (China, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, South Korea, Tanzania, Thailand)
  • Chalybion klapperichi (Balthasar, 1957)
  • Chalybion minos (de Beaumont, 1965)
  • Chalybion omissum (Kohl, 1889)
  • Chalybion petroleum Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion saudiarabicum Schmid-Egger, 2025
  • Chalybion stephenreyesi Abenis & Lit, 2020
  • Chalybion turanicum (Gussakovskij, 1935)
  • Chalybion vechti Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion walteri (Kohl, 1889)
  • Chalybion zimmermanni Dahlbom, 1843 (North America)
    • Chalybion zimmermanni zimmermanni Dahlbom, 1843
    • Chalybion zimmermanni aztecum (de Saussure, 1867)
    • Chalybion zimmermanni peninsulare R. Bohart and Menke, 1963

Chalybion californicum species-group

Chalybion fabricator species-group

  • Chalybion accline (Kohl, 1918)
  • Chalybion fabricator (F. Smith, 1860)
  • Chalybion hainanense Terayama & Tano, 2018
  • Chalybion lividum Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion magnum Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion malignum (Kohl, 1906)
  • Chalybion sulawesii Ohl & Höhn, 20112
  • Chalybion tanvinhense Pham, Ohl, & Truong, 20199

Chalybion gredleri species-group

  • Chalybion gredleri (Kohl, 1918) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion triangulum Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic, Gambia, Togo)

Chalybion incisum species-group

  • Chalybion incisum Hensen, 1988

Chalybion madecassum species-group

  • Chalybion bonneti Leclercq, 1966 (Madagascar)
  • Chalybion dolichothorax (Kohl, 1918)
  • Chalybion frontale (Kohl, 1906)
  • Chalybion gracile Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion iridescens Pham & Ohl, 2025
  • Chalybion madecassum (Gribodo, 1883) (Madagascar, Seychelles Islands)
  • Chalybion polyphemus Hensen, 1988

Chalybion tibiale species-group

  • Chalybion ammophiloides Hensen, 1988
  • Chalybion bocandei (Spinola, 1851)
    • Chalybion bocandei bocandei (Spinola, 1851) (Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierre Leone)
    • Chalybion bocandei aeronitens Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion heinii (Kohl, 1906)
  • Chalybion henseni Schmid-Egger, 2025
  • Chalybion kenyae Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
  • Chalybion laevigatum (Kohl, 1888) (Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zanzibar)
  • Chalybion mochii Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
  • Chalybion parvulum Hensen, 1988 (Kenya)
  • Chalybion planatum (Arnold, 1951) (Ethiopia)
  • Chalybion ruficorne Hensen, 1988 (Central African Republic)
  • Chalybion schulthessirechbergi (Kohl, 1918) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion sommereni (R.Turner, 1920) (Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion tibiale (Fabricius, 1781) (South Africa)
  • Chalybion tomentosum Hensen, 1988

Subgenus Chalybion (Hemichalybion) Kohl, 1918

Chalybion spinolae species-group

  • Chalybion clypeatum (Fairmaire, 1858) (Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, Mozambique, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
    • Chalybion clypeatum clypeatum (Fairmaire, 1858)
    • Chalybion clypeatum lusingi (Leclercq, 1955) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
    • Chalybion clypeatum kiloensis (Leclercq, 1955) (Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Chalybion spinolae (Lepeletier de Saint Fargeau, 1845)
    • Chalybion spinolae spinolae (Lepeletier, 1845) (Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo)
    • Chalybion spinolae rufopictum (Magretti, 1884) (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali)
    • Chalybion spinolae saussurei (Kohl, 1918) (South Africa)
  • Chalybion sumatranum (Kohl, 1884)

Chalybion femoratum species-group

  • Chalybion femoratum (Fabricius, 1781)12

Extinct species

There is one described fossil species of Chalybion:1

  • Chalybion mortuum Cockerell, 1907
See also

See also

  • C. (Hemichalybion) spinolae in South Africa.
    C. (Hemichalybion) spinolae in South Africa.
  • C. (Chalybion) bengalense in India.
    C. (Chalybion) bengalense in India.
  • C. (Chalybion) californicum in North Carolina.
    C. (Chalybion) californicum in North Carolina.
  • C. (Chalybion) femoratum in Italy.
    C. (Chalybion) femoratum in Italy.
  • C. (Chalybion) flebile in Spain.
    C. (Chalybion) flebile in Spain.
  • C. (Chalybion) japonicum in Japan.
    C. (Chalybion) japonicum in Japan.
  • C. (Chalybion) zimmermanni aztecum in Texas.
    C. (Chalybion) zimmermanni aztecum in Texas.
  • C. (Chalybion) zimmermanni zimmermanni in Arkansas.
    C. (Chalybion) zimmermanni zimmermanni in Arkansas.
References

References

  1. Pulawski, Wojciech J. (16 May 2026). "Chalybion" (PDF). Catalog of Sphecidae. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
  2. Ohl, Michael; Höhn, Patrick (2011-09-23). "Taxonomy, bionomics, and ecology of a new species of the blue mud-dauber wasp genus Chalybion from Sulawesi (Hymenoptera, Apoidea)". Zoosystematics and Evolution. 87 (2): 335–348. doi:10.1002/zoos.201100011.
  3. Hensen, R.V. (1988). "Revision of the nominate subgenus Chalybion Dahlbom (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)". Tijdschrift voor Entomologie. 131: 13–64.
  4. Krombein, Karl V.; Hurd Jr., Paul D. Jr.; Smith, David R.; Burks, B.D., eds. (1979). "Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico". Smithsonian Institution Press. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
  5. Fateryga, Alexander V.; Kovblyuk, Mykola M.; Kvetkov, Roman S. (2020). "The first data on the nesting biology of the invasive blue nest-renting wasp, Chalybion turanicum (Gussakovskij, 1935) (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae, Sceliphrinae) in the Crimea". Acta Biologica Sibirica. 6: 571–582. doi:10.3897/abs.6.e57911.
  6. Selvamurugan, Selvaraj. "The New record of Zimmermann's mud wasp (Chalybion zimmermanni Dahlbom, 1843) from India". Social Science Research Network Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.4624221.
  7. Bohart, Richard; Menke, Arnold (1976). Sphecid Wasps of the World - A Generic Revision. University of California Press. pp. 98-103. ISBN 978-0-520-02318-5.
  8. Le DiveLec, Romain (2024). "Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom, 1845), une nouvelle espèce exotique en France métropolitaine (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)". Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France. 129 (1): 13–16. doi:10.32475/bsef_2320.
  9. Pham, Phong Huy; Ohl, Michael; Truong, Lam Xuan (2019-12-19). "The genus Chalybion Dahlbom, 1843 (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) from Northwest Vietnam, with description of a new species". Zootaxa. 4712 (2). doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4712.2.2. PMID 32230684.
  10. Mei, Maurizio; Boščík, Ivo (2016). "Evidence of the introduction into Europe of the Nearctic mud-dauber wasp Chalybion californicum (de Saussure) (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)". Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa (58): 239–240. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  11. Mei, Maurizio; Pezzi, Giorgio; De Togni, Remo; Devincenzo, Umberto (2012). "The oriental mud-dauber wasp Chalybion bengalense (Dahlbom) introduced in Italy (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)". Ampulex. 5: 37–41. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  12. Tormos, Josè; Polidori, Carlo; Asís, Josep Daniel (2006). "Description of the prepupa of Chalybion femoratum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae), with comments on larval characters in the genus". The Florida Entomologist. 89 (3): 388–390. doi:10.1653/0015-4040(2006)89[388:DOTPOC]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2434/769719. JSTOR 4092437.