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Tropical Small Carpenter Bee (Ceratina)
When I saw this bee flying around in my Amazon hut, I was immediately fascinated with it. I ran to get my camera and catch a picture of it before it got away. I really did not know what it was and if it were poisonous or not. So, I had to exercise caution to get this picture. Finally it landed on a cardboard box long enough for me to get this great picture of it.
Like many of the other insects I have taken pictures of in the Amazon, I am not 100% sure this is a Ceratina. In many ways it looks like one, but there are some aspects of this specimen that are different then other examples I can find of the Small Carpenter Bee. The legs on this specimen are much larger then others I can find, so this may be a specific sub-variety that is only found in the Amazon.
Most reference material I can find about the Ceratina is about the North American and even the information about them is limited. They are extremely rare in the part of the Amazon where I lived as this one is the only one I have ever seen in over 20 years. Regardless, it nothing less then an amazing insect to look at. If I were to give it a name, I would call it the Amazon Armored Green Bee. Who knows, maybe that is what it is really called.