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Velvet Ant (Mutillidae), Santa María, Colombia
This looked like an unusually giant ant to us when finding it, but it turns out to be a Velvet Ant. Which still is no ant, it's a wasp, a flightless female wasp. And as luck would have it, only now we find out that it is known for its extremely painful sting. Some of the species in this family that have the black/white pattern as seen on this photo are nicknamed panda ants. I would not recommend cuddling them though.
Similar spotting:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/6018073963/in/faves-antbbx/
This velvet ant is approximately 3/4 inch or 20 mm in length. The male has a black face, antennae, legs and wings. The thorax is also black except for a thin white line across the top. The abdomen is red and hairy. The female has a red thorax and a red head. Her abdomen is black with white hairy bands. The legs are black and hairy. The females do not have wings.
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