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Project Noah Nature School
Dasymutilla aureola
Bright red, fuzzy, wingless wasp. The legs, face and underside are black. "Females wingless, very hairy, and may look like large ants but have no node (bump) on "waist" between abdomen and thorax (ants have one or two). Males winged, less hairy, look more like typical wasps, larger than females" This species can be differentiated by D. vestita by the size of its head compared to the rest of the body.
Walking across trail in chaparral
Spotted on Apr 13, 2013
Submitted on Apr 13, 2013
5 Comments
Thank you Leuba! This pretty girl stuck out in the brown chaparral but I could have stepped on her if I wasn't looking down.
Great spotting, Cindy !
Thank you J and Antonio! I was flat on the ground for this wasp (my kids thought I was crazy). Unfortunately we had just hit the trail and I didn't even get to check the settings on my camera before spotting her. These are the only one's that weren't completely blurry but I'm just happy to see one!
Wow Cindy amazing series,realy cool,congrats and thanks for sharing
Terrific series!