Sounds like a headline from one of those sleazy magazines or current affairs shows doesn't it? This is not a beat-up, though - it's what I went on to discover after watching this Velvet Ant yesterday as it ran up and down, occasionally with its rear end pointing upwards. Once I'd read about it I was glad I hadn't got any closer. This ant is, in fact, a female wasp. She's wingless and looks quite vulnerable. Think again. The Velvet Ant has an arsenal of defense mechanisms that will deter almost any predator. She can make a squeaking, scraping noise with her abdomen, she can emit ketones, which cause real ants to go into panic mode, her shell is hard, rounded and slippery and, if all of these fail she can deliver a sting that is most often described as 'excruciating'. There is one species of this wasp, Dasymutilla, that is sometimes called a cow killer - which is a beat-up because the sting is only mildly toxic. It's the degree of agony caused by the sting that has earned it this name.
Around the globe (largely in western hemisphere) there are an estimated 3000 species of Velvet Ant, some of them quite colourful and 'velvety'. (Great article on Velvet Ants here). They range in size from 6-20mm, the largest being in the US. The female lays her egg in the larva of a bee or wasp, but she dines only on nectar and is not aggressive at all - as long as you leave her alone...
1 Comment
Marion May Campbell
19/3/2019 05:44:03 pm
Another fascinating entry. Well some velvet morning I'd prefer not to be woken up by this Great Pretender.
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