Ceratochrysis declinus Bohart, U, Side, MD, Baltimore County
This lovely purple blue Chrysidid wasp was found be Gene Scarpulla on the dredge spoil augmented Hart-Miller Island in the Chesapeake Bay. It is interesting to ponder whey these nest parasites are inevitably a bright metallic color and not something seemingly more cryptic (cryptic to an insect and cryptic to a mammal are likely two different things). Photograph by Amber Reese. Original public domain image from Flickr