PromotedSpecies introCountry intro
Dasymutilla_eminentia-1
This harmless looking furry little ball of fun packs a powerful sting. In fact it is a wasp that has few predators based on its stinging characteristics.
Despite its name, the Velvet Ant isn't an ant at all! It is a type of wasp. True ants have bent antennae and a twice-constricted waist, unlike velvet ants which retain their wasp-like antennae. They are mainly found in the arid and semi-arid states of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico
This family of wasp is mostly solitary instead of living in nests and in large numbers. Only males have wings and fly, the ground-laden females can deliver a painful sting and should not be trifled with.
Yellow Velvet Ant larvae are parasitic. Females lay their fertilized wasp eggs in the nest of other bees or wasps. The Yellow Velvet Ant larvae hatch first and then devour the other species' larvae.
Busy female was hard to capture sharply.
For ID purposes: https://bugguide.net/node/view/338767/bgpage
Dasymutilla eminentia is a velvet ant in the Dasymutilla genus.
comments (6)
...yet could not recognize yours as one. What an unusual appearance, very cool find! Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
I have shots of a couple of species of velvet ants, but I have difficulty getting quality ones because they are VERY fast and I have no wish to be stung! Any tips on getting clear shots for a fast-moving target like this? Posted 7 years ago
These do move quickly and constantly which makes it more difficult to capture clear/clean shots. What I did in this case is study its movements in terms of its path (directionally) even though it is sporadic at best. You can still get a sense as to where it is trying to go. Then I get ahead of where I think it is going to go (by inches) pre-focused and wait for it. It is quite amusing at times but can be useful in this type of chase. Good luck and practice, practice, practice! BTW- when I say pre-focus I set my lens to manual focus @ 1:1 (or maximum ratio of lens) and use a swaying in and out motion to get the right focus. Never use auto focus or try to focus with the lens ring. Simply move the camera in and out of range to the subject to achieve correct focus. And take lots of pictures. Make sure you get your shutter speed up to reduce motion blur. This shot was on a semi cloudy day and I still used 1600ISO to get a good shutter speed. Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago