10/14/2026
It's Wildlife Wednesday and we are going to look at the common eastern velvet ant, Dasymutilla occidentalis, which can be found at the preserve!
Velvet ants are insects with six legs, antennas, and an exoskeleton. Insects have three main body sections called the head, thorax, and abdomen. Velvet ants are solitary, ground-dwelling, parasitoid wasps. They get the name velvet from the fuzziness of their body.
Females are wingless and have bold red and black patterns. Males have dark brown wings. Only the females have a powerful stinger. The sting is not medically significant and velvet ants are fast runners that will attempt to flee instead of stinging you.
Females parasitize bumble bee nests by laying eggs in the nest. When the eggs hatch, the larvae then kill and feed on the bumble bee larvae.
Source: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/13126
Photo Credit: Gabrielle Dunham
