Zeta argillaceum is one of the most common species of potter wasp

Potter wasp

Potter wasps are a cosmopolitan wasp group presently treated as a subfamily of Vespidae, but sometimes recognized in the past as a separate family, Eumenidae.-Recognition:...

 in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. It is found throughout the continent and as far north as Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and the southern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 (where it is thought to have been accidentally introduced

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

).

This wasp adapts easily to habitat change and the nests are a common sight, often in small groups, attached to the walls of buildings in urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s. The nest cell is roughly spherical, up to 18 mm in diameter, with a single small entrance hole. A single egg

Egg (biology)

An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...

 is laid in each cell: the adult wasp stocks the cell with paralyzed living food (usually geometrid moth larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e) for the emerging wasp larva to feed on. The nest is only used once by Z. argillaceum but is often reused by other potter wasps such as Pachodynerus

Pachodynerus

Pachodynerus is a fairly large neotropical and nearctic genus of potter wasps with higher diversity in central South America....

 spp.

Z. argillaceum is often affected by parasitoid

Parasitoid

A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism in a relationship that is in essence parasitic; unlike a true parasite, however, it ultimately sterilises or kills, and sometimes consumes, the host...

s such as the eulophid

Eulophidae

Eulophidae is a large family of hymenopteran insects, with over 4,300 described species in some 300 genera . The family as presently defined also includes the genus Elasmus, which was previously treated as a separate family, "Elasmidae", and is now treated as a subfamily of Eulophidae...

 Melittobia australica.