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Project Noah Nature School
Dasymutilla spp
Orange and black wingless wasp.
Found on a wooden walkway near where my previous velvet wasp spotting was photographed.
Female. She was holding her head against the wood.Usually these females are moving rapidly. Zig zagging around and hard to photograph.
Spotted on Aug 26, 2022
Submitted on Sep 10, 2022
6 Comments
Hi Tom, I really like the fluffy looking velvet ants in the first of those two previous spottings, but I'm sure they are just as dangerous as those in the second spotting. I wouldn't worry about what you call "poor shots". I think they are just great. They really convey the impression of aggression and danger. After this comment, I am going to open your links again. I want to have another look. Bye the way, you must think I am a complete idiot. I have been calling you "tomk" and "tomk3886". It was only when I saw Leuba's comment that I realized it is "Tom...". So I hope its OK to call you Tom from now on. Thanks for those interesting spottings. John B.
https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/11...
https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/62...
Above are links to two previous velvet ant posts. The first, from the Grand Canyon, took many shots to get the poor pics I posted as she was moving so fast.
The second shows a pair mating.
The behavior of the female in my current post was unusual. Standing still and laying her head on the wood. I observe the females almost daily during the summer and they are always moving.
The article was fascinating. Thanks Sukanyadata. In this region Cow Killer is the common name used.
My pleasure, John. Haven't seen a velvet ant yet. I will treat it with a great deal of respect, when (if) I do.
I just read through the article in the link that Sukanya provided. Scary indeed, if I ever see these wingless wasps again, I think I will be very careful. If you haven't had time to read it yet, tomk, try and have a look. It is indeed scary, but it is also very informative. Thank you Sukanya. John B.
When I was researching for my popular science book, I came across this experiment on the bites of velvet ants. Scary.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article...
Great spotting! What you said about these wasps zig zagging is exactly the problem I had when I spotted some, a few years back (in 2016, I just checked). As soon as I saw your comment about the way they move, I remembered that it made them difficult to photograph. When I eventually got round to uploading them to PN in June, this year, I completely forgot to mention it. The ones I saw here were hairy as well as "velvety" and that made them look kind of scruffy, but yours are really nice. I wonder what it was that attracted them to the wooden planks? John B.