So this is gross. All the kids are outside playing, Aleah and Alyssa (my 2 stepdaughters!) Madison (my kid), Dominic and Alyssa (my babysitters kids) and we see this bug. It was nasty. So of course I take a picture and then go to the internet just to make sure its not poisonous or anything and this is what I find out!!! HOW NASTY!!!
Velvet ants – actually wasps – get their name from the hairs that cover their body and because they resemble ants. The flightless females, which are often encountered while wandering on the ground, especially resemble ants. Two common varieties include thistledown (Dasymutilla gloriosa) and red (Dasymutilla magnifica). Two large ones include the Satan’s, one of them is black with a yellowish-white abdomen and the other is red and black. They are all in the family Mutillidae.Description Velvet ants range in size from 1/8 inch to one inch, with great variation within species. Size appears to depend upon size of host used during development. Velvet ants look like miniature walking cotton balls. Males have wings but no stingers, while females have stingers but lack wings. The heavy, deeply pitted integument (outer covering of body) functions as a suit of armor and can only be penetrated with great difficulty. At least three dozen species inhabit Arizona. They live in all parts of the desert from hot and dry to semiarid areas to shrublands.
1 comment:
Bugs! Gross! I never want to see an ant that big and furry, keep them in Tennesee!
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