Dasymutilla occidentalis

Dasymutilla occidentalis
Eastern Velvet Ant
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Mutillidae
Subfamily: Sphaeropthalminae
Genus: Dasymutilla
Species: D. occidentalis
Binomial name
Dasymutilla occidentalis
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Dasymutilla occidentalis, commonly known as the Eastern Velvet Ant or Red Velvet Ant, is a species of parasitoid wasp that is native to the eastern United States. Commonly mistaken for a member of the true ant family, the female is wingless. The species ranges from Connecticut to Missouri in the north and from Florida to Texas in the south. Other common names include cow ant and cow killer.[1][2][3]

The Eastern Velvet Ant is the largest of the velvet ant species in the United States, attaining an approximate length of ¾ of an inch (1.9 cm). Adults display aposematic coloration, consisting of black overall coloring with an orange-red pattern on the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen. They are covered in dense velvet-like hair.[2][3]

Females are capable of a extremely painful sting, hence the name "cow killer."[3] They seek out the chambers of ground-nesting bumble bees and other members of Hymenoptera, where they deposit an egg onto a host larva. The egg quickly hatches into a white legless grub, which consumes the host and goes through several larval stages prior to pupa formation. Unlike the females, males have dark, transparent wings and no sting.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Species Dasymutilla occidentalis". Bugguide. Iowa State University. http://bugguide.net/node/view/13126. Retrieved September 12, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c "Red Velvet Ant or "Cow Killer"". Texas AgriLife Extension Service: A Field Guide To Common Texas Insects. Texas A&M University. http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg344.html. Retrieved September 12, 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c "Red velvet ant; cow killer". Arthropod Museum. University of Arkansas: Division of Agriculture. http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/cowkil.html. Retrieved September 12, 2011. 
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