Sweat bee or cuckoo wasp - which one could it be?

Metallic green sweat bee on chives flower in Oyama, BC.

Both sweat bees and cuckoo wasps boast metallic colours, often blue or green, and are about the same size.  Their habits are very different however as sweat bees are active pollinators while cuckoo wasps parasitize the nests of other Hymenoptera.  I have been pouring over my insect books (yes, I have more than one) and the internet in hopes of figuring out what this.  As far as I can tell, it is a sweat bee because:

  • cuckoo wasps have the ability to curl up in a tight ball while sweat bees don't.  I never saw any evidence that these emerald green beauties have such a talent.
  • sweat bees are avid pollinators and collect the stuff for nests while cuckoo wasps have no such interest in the yellow particles as they are larvae parasatoids.
  • both visit flowers as the adults consume nectar but sweat bees will land on flowers and be more richly engaged with the blooms while cuckoo wasps tend to avoid crawling around on them.
  • sweat bees make their own nests while cuckoo wasps don't.  I never saw any nests, which are basically just small holes in the ground.
  • female cuckoo wasps have an ovipositor for laying eggs while sweat bee females don't.
I got a lot of my information from this website:  click here to see

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericpsix.com

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