Cow Killer

[Tn Gizmo]

This is a "Velvet Ant" or "Cow Killer" found running across the yard today. I have seen photos of them before but this is the first live one I have seen. Some internet facts:

Common Name: Red velvet ant or "cow killer"
Scientific Name: Dasymutilla occidentalis (Linnaeus)
Order: Hymenoptera
Description: These insects are wasps, not ants. Females are wingless and covered with dense hair, superficially resembling ants. The red velvet-ant is the largest velvet-ant species, reaching about 3/4 inch in length. They are black overall with patches of dense orange-red hair on the thorax and abdomen. Males are similar but have wings and can not sting.
Life Cycle: Females seek the immature stages of ground-nesting bees, digging to the nesting chambers and eating a hole through the cocoon. She deposits and egg on the host larva, which soon hatches into a white legless grub. The immature velvet-ant eats the host larva, developing through several larval stages before forming a pupa.
Habitat, Food Source(s), Damage: Mouthparts are for chewing. Lone females can be found crawling on the ground, particularly in open sandy areas. Adults are most common during the warm summer months. Larvae are solitary, external parasites of developing bumble bees.
Pest Status: The common name, "cow killer," is thought to describe the painful sting these insects can inflict to man and animals, although it is doubtful that many cows are actually stung.

[reddirt]

Now thats one interesting looking insect!

[fossis]

Now thats one interesting looking insect!

And very colorful.

Fossis.............

[Produce Guy]

We have something like that here in TX.,but it's more red than orange.

[allen]

I hope he didnt make it much farther !

[cheese]

Cool pic. I saw one yesterday. Those buggers are tough too, you can stomp them like crazy and they don't squish. Grab his rear with needle-nose pliers and squeeze a little. A HUGE menacing looking stinger will pop out.

[Tn Gizmo]

I hope he didnt make it much farther !

I set it free after taking the photo...I usually don't catch the insects I photograph but this one was so different I caught it in a container, it was moving so much I had to put it the refrigerator long enough to slow it down. Figured she had suffered enough after all of that, so I sent her on her merry way.

[centfladigger]

I seem to have an infestation of them on my property, we have them everywhere around here. Some people just dont believe they are a female wingless wasp

[Jeep]

Interesting, just learned something new

I have never come across one of them, first time seeing one.

From what I read I hope I never do

[Felinepeachy]

I hope he didnt make it much farther !

I set it free after taking the photo...I usually don't catch the insects I photograph but this one was so different I caught it in a container, it was moving so much I had to put it the refrigerator long enough to slow it down. Figured she had suffered enough after all of that, so I sent her on her merry way.

You are such a sweetie

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

You can stomp on these things and they will not die. They will even let our a screeching noise when you try to stomp them. You have to get them on a hard surface and basically roll your boot back and forth on them to dispatch them properly.

[Felinepeachy]

OR.............. you could just leave them alone and let them go on with their life. They are solitary. They don't run around in groups.

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

[Felinepeachy]

[packerbacker]

[markjamerson]

In Texas they are called cow ants and they are tough and they bite lol but are very pretty for a ant.

[Felinepeachy]

In Texas they are called cow ants and they are tough and they bite lol but are very pretty for a ant.

I think they're pretty too

[RGINN]

Growin up in Oklahoma we called them cow ants too, and we ran away from them. I don't know anybody that was bit or stung by one, but we always believed the outcome would be fatal or close to it. Good pics.

[ivan salis]

warning DO NOT GET BIT BY ONE * - THEIR NOT CALLED "COW KILLERS" FER NOTHING YOU KNOW.

[lookindown]

when I was a kid we called them horse killers, and running over them with a bike had no effect.