velvet ant

Class: Hexapoda (animals with six legs - includes all insects)
Order: Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, sawflies)
    hymen = god of marriage (front and back wings are hooked together), membrane and ptera = wings
Family: (velvet ants)
Species: Dasymutilla sp.
Common Name: velvet ant (not species specific)
Date Collected: unknown
Place: Guadalupe Mountains National Park
    Insect Display Case in Visitor Center at Pine Springs

If you find a hairy ant-like insect nosing along the trail, it is probably a female velvet ant. Velvet ants are really wasps and may have reddish, whitish or even yellowish hairs. Female velvet ants lack wings and are noted for their potent stings (one species is commonly called "Cow Killer"). The female shown above from the Display Case is fairly typical. The winged males are sometimes seen at flowers. (There are some hairy digger wasps that superficially resemble winged males.)

I did find one similar to this on 2001 July 23 along the trail in McKittrick Canyon.

velvet ant

velvet ant
2003 September 24 at Pine Springs Visitor Center (at night)

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Note: This is a personal web site and is not affiliated with the National Park Service or Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Contact information for the author, Ron Lyons, is accessible through the Index Page referenced below. Thank you.