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cow killer

Dasymutilla occidentalis

Photo by MichaelMorris
Published on Project Noah
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37.8059, -83.7014

Field Notes

Description:

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."

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (6)
ChunXingWong
I never knew they could sting, luckily I never caught them by hand.
Gordon Dietzman
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/bgimage?from=354 and see what you think.
Gordon Dietzman
Cool spotting. I've never seen one in the wild. Nicely done photograph as well.
Gordon Dietzman
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.
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 25, 2011

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