This lil' guy , also known as Ceratina (Pithitis) smaragdula is often mistaken for a Cuckoo Wasp (Chrysidinae) and it's still in my garden. Probably singing along with the faeries. Like the good carpenter bee it is.
So, I was sort of singing it, "Ceratina smaragdula ... bibbity bobbity boo!" If you say it a few times, it does have a sort of sing songish name. Take a minute and hum a few bars with me.
We were basically harvesting tomatoes, blackberries and removing the giant sunflowers heads in the herb garden when I noticed Mr. Day Glo Green running across the dirt. I scooped hims up and took a few pictures.
Sadly, he seems to be minus a wing. โน๏ธ
It took a while to find any real information about these guys, but I finally landed on a fact sheet at BioNet, and I have to admit that it was a real find, that website.
I'm going to recommend that all here who love bugs as much as I do bookmark that site. It's mainly for East Africa, but it's a treasure trove of information.
Back to our star for today though, he was tiny, about the size of two small peas together. Hey, peas came to mind because they're quite green, and this guy was VERY GREEN. So, hims was the size of two metallic peas.
Not all "bees" make honey, but they are VERY important for pollination. It looks like this lil' guy is a solitary dude, although some do hang out with others in nests underground. Hims was all alone, we didn't see any more of them. We have quite a few honeybees visiting our oregano which is where we found this guy, so he had a lot to snack on. Bees aren't like wasps, they don't eat other creatures, they mainly live on flower pollen and nectar.
If you see a blue or rainbow-colored critter like this, then that is definitely a wasp. You'll know the difference too. They can't "roll up" and they will probably bite you.
I'm glad I was wearing gloves in spite of it all, but he didn't try to sting me, he just wanted back on the dirt.
Thank you, so much, for reading and I always welcome your comments!
Take a look at @Labyrinths when you have a moment, and join our labyrinth community on HIVE if you're interested. We just started it, so there's not much going on yet, but if you're ever in the need for a "down to earth" (but not too earthy) psychic, you can find me online at Brigid's Aether.
Any images and graphics (unless noted) are mine.
