Skip to main content
Today is National Trails Day!
Close

Velvet Ant

Photo by Russ Doren
Published on Project Noah
Zoom
NominateNominate for Wildlife Photograph of the Month
reportFlag Spotting

29.2306, -82.3132

Field Notes

Description:

Beautiful orange, hairy, and wingless.

Habitat:

Crawling around in my backyard in the grass, on our 10-acre horse farm.

Notes:

Ocala has the greatest bugs! I took this photo using my iPhone 6S Plus using flash. The styrofoam cup it was in provided a perfect background, after which I let her go.

Species ID Suggestions

Cow Killer

Dasymutilla occidentalis

Reference Link
bayucca
1

Comments (4)
bayucca
Interesting spotting, Ross! Please, update the spotting, thanks.
bayucca
Indeed, Karen (I guess you are Karen P., right? ;-)...), it is not an ant, although called velvet ants. I never have seen one in life and I know they are quite good runners. Usually very tricky to ID, specially in the neotropics, but in this case, I am quite confident with the ID. Some more infos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutillidae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasymutilla_occidentalis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnguQZjRBVA
MrsPbio
Yes it's beautiful. I'm always excited to see one. BUT... it's not an "ant", but rather the female of the above-stated wasp. And it has a very very painful sting! Definitely one of those "look but don't touch" critters!
bayucca
Mutillidae, Dasymutilla sp. and should be the female Dasymutilla occidentalis. http://bugguide.net/node/view/13126/bgimage http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/insectid/images/velvet-ant-female-Dasymutilla-occidentalis-Castner.jpg
Photographed
PublishedJune 3, 2016

Community Sponsor

Butterfly
Become a Community Sponsor and Help Grow our Global Movement!

Accelerate our Mission to Photograph 
Every Species in the World!

Butterflies icon
Become a Community Sponsor

Wildlife Community

Wildlife Community

Join a worldwide community passionate about wildlife and nature!

Join Project Noah

Nature School

Nature School

Transform your green space into a curiosity-creating nature classroom!

Visit Nature School

Wildlife Game

Wildlife Game

Defend wildlife throughout the jungle in thrilling nature game!

Play Baboon

Nature & Conservation Organizations

Brands & Mission-Focused Companies