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Dasymutilla occidentalis
This is a velvet ant. It is actually a wingless wasp (family: Mutillidae). The sting is purported to be strong enough to kill a cow, hence its other name, "cow killer."
Spotted on Aug 5, 2010
Submitted on Sep 25, 2011
6 Comments
I never knew they could sting, luckily I never caught them by hand.
thanks guys!!
I agree - Dasymutilla occidentalis.
I did a bit of research on Bugguide.net and I suspect it is Dasymutilla occidentalis. See the images starting at http://bugguide.net/node/view/159/bgimag... and see what you think.
Cool spotting. I've never seen one in the wild. Nicely done photograph as well.
This is a velvet ant. It is actually a wingless wasp (family: Mutillidae). The sting is purported to be strong enough to kill a cow, hence its other name, "cow killer." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutillidae for more information.