Pison spinolae
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Pison spinolae is a solitary wasp of the family Crabronidae, native to Australia and New Zealand. Like all insects, P. spinolae has a hard exoskeleton, one pair of antennae and three pairs of legs. These legs are strong as they need to be able to carry spiders back to their nests for their young. It has a segmented body divided into three sections; head, thorax and abdomen and two pairs of wings. An easily identifiable feature of the mason wasp, similar to other wasp species is the thin waist between the thorax and abdomen. This helps to tell the difference between a wasp and bee. The mason wasp is able to use its stinger repeatedly unlike bees. It relies on this to inject venom into spiders which paralyses them and allows the adult female to carry the spider back to the nest. Unlike some commonly-known wasps, P. spinolae is not black and yellow, the adult's body is fully black and has a length of approximately 16 millimetres (0.63 in). The nest of the mason wasp is constructed from predominantly sand and mud. It is small in size and widely abundant, found in places such as cracks of buildings and keyholes. The most obvious characteristic used for identification is... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur's Pass National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a New Zealand Mason Wasp sighting in Fiordland National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 108th most-seen of the 201 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a New Zealand Mason Wasp in Fiordland National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March to November, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most New Zealand Mason Wasp sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate New Zealand Mason Wasp sightings, Fiordland National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Arthur's Pass National Park (New Zealand, about 10%).
Same order: Hymenoptera
The closest relatives of the New Zealand Mason Wasp that you can see in Fiordland National Park (order Hymenoptera, Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies) are Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee (about 20%), Common European Yellowjacket (about 10%) and Certonotus fractinervis (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the New Zealand Mason Wasp is recorded against all the insects logged in Fiordland National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
