[3][4] When preparing to swarm, there are a number of pre-swarming behaviors that members of S. surinama colonies partake in, such as buzzing runs and occasional brood cannibalism.

[5] Unlike less primitive Hymenoptera species, S. surinama display little morphological variation between egg laying queens and workers.

It is most commonly found in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil[9] Guyana, Suriname (from which S. surinama derives its name), French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, and the northern parts of Bolivia.

[11] Comb expansion occurs gradually,[1] and workers are responsible for constructing the cells of the nest for queens to lay eggs in.

This is a collective behavior in which certain events or stimuli cause many individuals of the same species (most commonly from the same colony) to fly in close aggregation with one another, often appearing to onlookers as a giant cloud of moving insects.

Newly founded colonies of S. surinama have also been known to swarm after a bright light was directed at the comb, perhaps falsely simulating nest damage and exposure to sunlight.

[5] Once an event worthy to cause a swarm has occurred, S. surinama exhibit synchronous alarm behavior such as buzzing runs and loop flights, which more individuals continue to participate in until building activity comes to a halt.

[5] A sure sign of alarm in S. surinama is called "buzzing runs", which refers to a pre-swarming behavior triggered by a specific event.

It has been suggested that buzzing runs function also to increase alertness and readiness to fly in the rest of the colony because they are similar to other known alarm behaviors; also, when a colony has members that are performing buzzing runs, small interferences with the nest that would not usually warrant any reaction cause many individuals to immediately fly away from the nest.

[5] Although during pre-swarming activities S. surinama continue to forage, some older workers (over 21 days old) may eat large larvae and pupae before deserting the nest.

When scouts release these olfactory cues, they perform a behavior called dragging, which refers to the action of laying down the scented chemicals.

S. surinama wasps individually follow the scent trail laid out by workers to their new nesting site, rather than in a group.

Generally, scented stopping points along the route are spaced roughly two to ten meters apart, and appear on obvious landmarks in the trail such as fence posts or rock surfaces.

[6][13] In S. surinama, workers who do not lay eggs are virtually identical to queens that do; however, egglayers are the only caste that experiences ovarian development.

S. surinama are one of the highly social Hymenoptera species to employ sting autonomy (also called autotomy) as a mechanism of colony defense.

This act is suicidal for the individual performing it, but can function as great protection for the rest of the colony; in addition to continuing to inject venom, the sting apparatus also releases alarm pheromones and thereby marks the target as a recognised threat to be dealt with immediately if it should return.