Image: Dasymutilla occidentalis (3726943361)
Description: It was exciting to look down and see this velvet ant racing through the debris on the forest floor. Even in the shade it was in the 90's and I worked up quite a sweat crawling around after her. She did pause once but not for the above photo. I would estimate she was 20mm long (3/4").
The female cow killer has been described as a hairy, antlike, wingless wasp. It is the largest species of velvet ant in North America and gets its' name from the mistaken belief that its' painful sting is fatal to cattle. Only the male flies but the ladies make up for it with some really fast walking.
Author: John Flannery from Richmond County, North Carolina, USA
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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