Bug FAQSynoeca surinama
Synoeca surinama · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Vespidae
Source: Wikipedia
Synoeca surinama is a medium-sized wasp with a metallic blue-black body that can appear shiny in the light. It builds nests on tree trunks in tropical South American habitats and can sting defensively, leaving its stinger in the victim.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The wasp has a metallic blue-black coloration and a head with a projecting vertex. Its dorsal and lateral propodeal punctation is less dense than that of S. chalibea and S. virginea.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
It is a medium-sized wasp with a blueish-black color that can look metallic in certain light.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
It has a painful sting and usually attacks only in defense. When it stings, the stinger remains in the victim and the wasp dies. The venom contains serotonin, a vasoconstrictor that causes severe pain by signaling a serious wound.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It builds nests on tree trunks and lives in tropical climates of South America. It can also be found in wet grassland, scattered shrub areas, sparse shrubs and trees, and gallery forest.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults visit flowering plants and act as pollinators.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Social environmental conditions decide the caste of developing brood. Queens and workers show little morphological difference.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be confused with S. chalibea and S. virginea, but those have denser propodeal punctation. It is similar to S. cyanea and S. septentrionalis, which also have less dorsal and lateral propodeal punctation.
Source: Wikipedia
Questions people ask
What does Synoeca surinama look like?
It is a medium-sized wasp with a metallic blue-black body and a head that has a projecting vertex.
Source: Wikipedia
Where does Synoeca surinama build its nest?
It builds nests on tree trunks in tropical South American habitats such as gallery forest.
Source: Wikipedia
What does Synoeca surinama eat?
Adults visit flowering plants and serve as pollinators.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Vespidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synoeca_surinama
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.