Insects Is this a wasp or a bee?

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lovitazoe

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I am confused. What do you think is this? My father in law said it is a carpenter bee while I think this is a wasp. Kind of Scoliid Wasp. This kind of wasps eat nectar and pollen too. For me, its body is too slim if it is really a carpenter bee. But I also never seen a wasp with dark yellow hair on the top of its body. Thank you šŸ˜.

2021_1110_22121200.jpg 2021_1110_22115500.jpg
 

Andy Smith

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Carpenter bees come in a range of different shapes, some are more like bumble bees (short and fat) while others are longer and slimmer. I am no expert though :) Please let me know if you manage to accurately ID the critter
 
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Chavezshutter

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I don't know if this applies to all wasps and bees but I can usually tell them apart from their movement, wasps tend to be jumpy, they have jittery, jerky, stop and go action when they are on the ground or perched on a flower, bees tend to have a much smoother, fluid movement.

I looked at possible species of either bees or wasps around Singapore and found 3 possible species that could be it: The White-cheeked Carpenter Bee, the Yellow-and-black Carpenter Bee or the Pubescent Carpenter Bee. I also found some similar photos under Subgenus Koptortosama which includes about 60 species of carpenter bees, the majority which had no photos. Let me know if you would like to compare the photos and I will PM you the links rather then spam a bunch of external links here.
 

lovitazoe

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I don't know if this applies to all wasps and bees but I can usually tell them apart from their movement, wasps tend to be jumpy, they have jittery, jerky, stop and go action when they are on the ground or perched on a flower, bees tend to have a much smoother, fluid movement.

I looked at possible species of either bees or wasps around Singapore and found 3 possible species that could be it: The White-cheeked Carpenter Bee, the Yellow-and-black Carpenter Bee or the Pubescent Carpenter Bee. I also found some similar photos under Subgenus Koptortosama which includes about 60 species of carpenter bees, the majority which had no photos. Let me know if you would like to compare the photos and I will PM you the links rather then spam a bunch of external links here.
Thank you. That would be great. šŸ˜ƒ
 
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lovitazoe

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Carpenter bees come in a range of different shapes, some are more like bumble bees (short and fat) while others are longer and slimmer. I am no expert though :) Please let me know if you manage to accurately ID the critter
Sure, I will let you know. šŸ˜