Marimbondo-tatu

Appearance

''S. cyanea'' is black with metallic blue patches on its body. In addition, ''S. cyanea'' has a red clypeus. While other species in the genus ''Synoeca'' do not demonstrate caste differences, ''S. cyanea'' sometimes shows differentiation between the size of workers and the queen. A queen of a nest that is early in development will often be the same size as the workers and intermediates as it has not fully developed its reproductive organs. As the colony and nest grow, the queen also grows in size, due to ovarian development, until it is larger than the workers and intermediates....hieroglyph snipped... When males are present, they are also smaller than the queen.

Distribution

While the genus ''Synoeca'' is found from Mexico to Argentina, ''S. cyanea'' is native to almost the whole country of Brazil. Typically, nests are found in the Restinga and the Atlantic Rain Forest. However, ''S. cyanea'' has been known to forage and make nests in mangrove areas.

Habitat

While the genus ''Synoeca'' is found from Mexico to Argentina, ''S. cyanea'' is native to almost the whole country of Brazil. Typically, nests are found in the Restinga and the Atlantic Rain Forest. However, ''S. cyanea'' has been known to forage and make nests in mangrove areas.

Food

The wasps forage for sugary substances o feed to both larvae and adult wasps. Additionally, necrophagy is a common practice for swarm-founding Neotropical bees and wasps, and one species that practices this is ''S. cyanea''. ''S. cyanea'' feed larvae the animal proteins collected. The wasps are predators of the coffee-leaf-miner, ''Leucoptera coffeella''.

Defense

Characteristic to the genus, ''S. cyanea'' will sound an alarm when disturbed. This sound is made when the wasps scrape their mandibles on the carton of their nest. In addition, as one of the most aggressive social wasps, ''S. cyanea'' often will bite and sting when threatened. Their barbed sting often remains in the skin as the wasp pulls away.''S. cyanea'' venom is strong enough to cause haemolytic activity. Rhabdomyolysis and hemorrhage may also occur. In mice, abdominal spasms, ataxia, defecation, dyspnoea, hyperactivity, hypoactivity, sweating, and throes were observed following venom injection. ''S. cyanea'' venom also contains some antibacterial activity.