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Pacific Red Velvet Ant

Dasymutilla occidentalis

Photo by LaurenZarate
Published on Project Noah
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34.49, -119.71

Field Notes

Description:

Large Red Velvet Ant (Wingless Female Wasp) that was running about in the sand and rocks of a steep descent. It was about 1 cm long. Bad picture because it was running about so fast, but I was so excited to find one. It has black legs, antennae and mandibles. Family Mutillidae.

Habitat:

Hiking trail on the edge of Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara.

Reference Links:

Mutillidae

Species ID Suggestions

Velvet Ants

Dasymutilla
JonathanHoskins
1

Red-haired Velvet Ant

Dasymutilla aureola pacifica

Reference Link
Ornithoptera80
1

Comments (1)
JonathanHoskins
One of the species of Dasymutilla, but not D. occidentalis (which is an eastern species and doesn't occur in California). There are 3 species with very similar appearances as a part of a larger Müllerian mimicry ring: D. aureola, D. californica, and D. coccineohirta. The head may not be broader than the thorax, so that may be more suggestive of the latter 2.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
The Color Red
Mission
Southern California Wildlife
Mission
Hymenoptera of the world -- bees, ants and all their friends
Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project

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Photographed
PublishedJune 27, 2014

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