Horrific Fig Tree Eating Bug?

[Harborseal]

I found this today. What Southern monster is it?

[figgrower]

Looks like something that came out of Fukushima!

[greenfig]

Looks like a wasp of some sort

[WillsC]

Bob is it pretty small? Get a "bee" that looks similar that sometimes helps pollinate my blueberries.

[Whiterk]

It's a "green metallic bee", it's a pollinator no reason to be alarmed.

[Harborseal]

Who are you who is so wise in the ways of weird insects?

[Whiterk]

Haha. I'm also a beekeeper and I've read about it in the past.

[smithmal]

I wonder how good of a pollinator GMBs are vs the European Honey Bee. Wish we had more pollinators in the US.

Info on GMBs here.

[Blackfoot12]

We actually have a huge number of species that pollinate. At least in my area of south Jersey. This is most evident to me when my oregano blooms. Maybe because it is at a time of year when other plants are not blooming as much. Maybe because the flowers are extra tasty, but they are alive with pollinator activity. Maybe next year I'll take a video.

[WillsC]

I wonder how good of a pollinator GMBs are vs the European Honey Bee. Wish we had more pollinators in the US.

Info on GMBs here.

On Blueberries the GMB are much better than honey bees I would bet as they can fit inside the flower. The European honey bees need 8 trips to the same BB flower to fully pollinate it. The southern BB bee (small bumble bee) accomplishes the same task in 1 trip as do the regular bumble bees.

[cis4elk]

It was probably using a partially hollowed end of a pruned limb as a nesting site. It won't burrow past the node, it will just try to fit as many eggs cells in the internode space as it can and then seal the opening with some sort of matter.

[Hershell]

Bob, say that you didn't kill the pollinator.

[Harborseal]

I thought it might be the Emerald Ash Borer. I found it inside one of my saffron flowers, mostly dead. It wouldn't fly but it would twitch every now and then. I hope it didn't lay eggs there because those flowers get picked and dry out. Thanks for the info. I've never seen one of these before. It never tried to sting me and it had ample opportunity.