Mysterious red ant wasp
Jul 11th, 2007 by Jill
I’ve never seen an ant like this before.
It was the size of a honeybee, but it had no wings. It was red and furry.
It was in Altadena.
39 Responses to “Mysterious red ant wasp”
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Looks like dasymutilla occidentalis, a type of wasp.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/28212
#2 Google result for “fuzzy red ant”.
Thanks. I’m glad I didn’t touch it!
He’s right, that’s a wasp!
Don’t confuse that scary wasp with one of my Ant minions!!!!!!!
You should do a Pasadena Nature blog…Gavin & Jill Davis-Doughtie-Attenborough present “Pasadena Geographic”.
I can smell the incoming web traffic.
Although technically a wasp, it is more commonly known as a Velvet Ant, so I guess either name will do.
Yup, velvet ant. And ants and wasps are among the most closely related of insects, anyway. Maybe this is the result of ‘kissing cousins’..
This is just the sort of riff raff one finds in unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County…
I like how Jill wrote the blog (and I’m being serious). It reminds me of a children’s book:
I’ve never seen an ant like this before..
(turns page)
It was the size of a honeybee but it had no wings.
(turns page)
It was red and furry
(turns page)
It was in Altadena
The End.
I used to teach first and second grade.
This is what makes our little region so interesting, an occasional escapee from the underground science labs.
Looks like a red fuzzy ant. If its a wasp then those underground labs better bioengineer some wings for the dude!
Freaky! (And creepy.)
I am in the Atlanta area and 7/30 happened upon something very similiar to what you are talking about. the one I saw was in the grass and almost 2 inchs in lenght and about the size of the little finger in diameter. Such a bright red with not sure but maybe 2 bands of black ,and the red part looked fuzzy. To say I stepped on it more then just a few times one be saying it slightly . it just walked away ,tried again ,walked away.Finally stomped it as hard as I could . Looked dead and left. About an hour later went back .it was gone..what ever it was left . checked another ant listing and it looked also very much like a picture they had of what they called a hurricane cow ant.Can you help me out here .Someone at work said they really hurt if biten by them. I probably will never see another one but would like to know ..thanks Bill
I have seen many of these ants were I live in eastern OK and yes there are very tough little boogers. Locals simpley call them cow ants.I don’t know where they come from or where there going but I’m very carefull not to step on them with my bare feet.
I saw a velvet ant in topanga canyon
i was lying on my couch just now and saw this insect crawling across the carpet. i put a wine glass over, looked at it and came right to the internet. i have never seen anything like this before, but it seems like what you are describing. a very large ant, 3 sections of its body,fire engine red and fuzzy, no wings, but the largest part (the abdomen) is pointed as if it has a stinger. 6 legs so its not a spider… so bizarre.
i live in santa barbara, ca.
we found a yellow one that looks just like your red furry ant? We live in Lake Shastina, CA….Nor Cal, how random. Thanks for the info on this wasp, glad we didn’t hold it! LOL!
I also saw one in Topanga Canyon! Very strange indeed!
The ones you are talking about are the female of the velvet wasp species. The male flies. For some reason, the female doesn’t. I did the research a couple of summers ago when I came across one walking in my driveway…I am in De. However, this morning I was watering my plants and on one of my palm trees was a grouping of about 50 red ants with black legs…just like the wasp only truly ant size. I don’t know if they are immature females or some kind of ant. They are bright red like the wasp. After spraying them with sevin to no avail, I cut the frond off and stepped on them. Does anyone know if these are the wasps in an immature version?
I work at a private Fixed base operation (place for private aircraft) at Fresno International Airport, CA. One of my fuel techs says he sees these all over out by our fuel farm (where we pump and store jet fuel). Today he managed to catch one, but only because it was apparently dying. He put it in a cup, brought it in to me, and asked me to find out what it was. I searched “fuzzy ant” and this is what I found. Looks just like it. I’d never seen anything like it before! A wasp, huh? Weird…
We first saw one of these “ants” crawling in our new office. Upon inspection, noticed one or two more outside in our landscaping……had an exterminator come out and sure enough he said they are a “flighless wasp” They apparently are common in North Carolina between May up through September. I have lived in NC all of my life and this is the first time (and hopefully the last) I have ever seen this insect.
I just spotted one in my backyard in Memphis, TN. It was pretty, fast moving and I did not want to touch. I searched the web and also found they are called velvet ants or cow killers and are female wasps.
WE ARE FROM WEST TERRE HAUTE ,INDIANA . ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO WE FIRST CAME ACROSS THIS “ANT” MARCHING DOWN THE DRIVEWAY . MY HUSBAND WALKED ALONG WITH IT TO KEEP THE KIDS AWAY TIL WE COULD PUT IT IN A JAR. THROUGH THE YEARS WE HAVE ONLY SEEN FOUR OTHERS AND DID NOT KNOW WHAT THEY WERE.SINCE THEN HAVE FOUND OUT THEY ARE CALLED VELVET ANT . NOT A GOOD NAME AS MOST PEOPLE LIKE THE FEEL OF VELVET. SINCE IT IS REALLY A FLIGHTLESS FEMALE WASP OR “COW KILLER” I’M GLAD MY KIDS NEVER FOUND THIS ONE ON THEIR OWN AND PUT IT IN THEIR POCKET LIKE THE MANY FROGS WHEN THEY WERE SMALL .
I live in Venice Florida and found one of these walking across our driveway this morning..Never seen anything like it.
I have seen these thing since I was about 10 I live in Charlotte NC and I and 19 now. I have seen about 3 over the time and I found one outside on my porch and me being the person I am I tried to hurry up and picc it up by the bacc and run in the house to put it in a jar and before I could open the door it stung the #%ut out of me.Word of advice DON’T TOUCH THEM. It got me real good. Only hurts for about 2 minutes tho. Unfortunately I had to kill it. Lol
I found a red velvet ant in my house 07/20/08. It was red and furry and a female I believe because it had a stinger
I saw one of the red velevet ants today in GA. It was big and I have never seen it before. Glad I got out of its way.
I saw one of these today in Crest, (San Diego CA) but it had no black stripe which kind of threw me off the Velvet Ant trail…Two scorpions too. Every day I see something new up there…these things are FREAKY though. The other NASTY bug they have up there is a Jerusalem Cricket…ugliest ant-looking bug I have ever seen.
I just saw one today in eastern Nebraska on a middle school track. It was huge, over an inch, and very red.
I was mowing my yard today and looked down and saw one. I took several pictures and then went inside to get a jar but it was gone when I got back. Glad I didn’t touch it! This was in Chester, Virginia.
I just found one of these ants. From the color I assumed it was either poisonous or dangerous. I stepped on this thing about twleve time - realy - at least twelve times. It would not die - it played dead two or three times, but it wouold not die. I finally got my daughter to bring me a water bottle which I empteied so I could catch the thing. I recently moved to a wooded area with lots of corn and sor fields. About a month ago I killed what I later learned was a black widow female spider - so when I find something odd I want to research it - I have a small child and a kitten to protect. ANYWAY… what I want to know is, “DO these ant/wasp run in packs. Will I be finding these things all over the place - should I spray for them or put down granules? Need info - please help…
We live in Alabama. I saw one going across our driveway and didn’t know what it was and my dad caught another one a couple of days ago and put it in a jar. We still have it I have searched the web and this is the first I have found… I am glad I know now because I have a small niece who plays in the yard…good to know to keep her away..thanks
I live in N.C. and they seem very common around here, I was just outside walking in my back yard and i found about three of these (cow killers). I also have never seen one before, it was a interesting little thing.
We were camping in the sierras (CA) this weekend and saw one of the light yellow ones. I asked hubby to pick it up with a stick so I could get a closer look at it. He decided to pick it up by the hairs and it bit him fast and hard. I told him not to pick it up since we didn’t know what it was. He’s allergic to hornets and he must not be allergic to wasps because it didn’t affect him. It burned for a long time though.
I have seen these wasps quite a few times wondering to myself what in the world they were. I’ve always thought of them as ants too. I live in Thomasville, NC. One day I was at lunch and found one these wasps walking across a paved bicycle trail down the street from my work. I was able to catch it. It took me several stomps to get it to slow down, and then scooped it up with a cheeseburger wrapper. By the time I got it home to show it to my girlfriend it was dead. This wasp is fuzzy all over with bright red on top and black underneath. This one for some reason has a black stripe across the back of the abdomen. As I moved the wrapper out of the way to see the abdomen better a stinger came out. If the stinger touched the wrapper it would go back inside. I moved the wrapper out of the way again and the stinger came out even further. It kept going in and out like a stabbing motion. It extended out at least a quarter of an inch. It’s about one of the wildest things I have ever seen.
I just found one of these wasps in my yard tonight. I thought it was a giant Ant. It scares the crap out of me now, because I have a 3 year old son, who runs around outside without shoes. I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland about 20 minutes from the beach, and I never thought I would find an insect like this. I just wonder what exactly a sting from one of these things is like. Could it kill you? I personally am very allergic to bees, wasps and hornets, so I will be staying inside now. LOL.
My son and I saw this red velvet and black fuzzy ant today in Missouri!
We are glad to know what it is, thanks!!!
I live in Southern IL and have seen about three of these creatures just this week. They are nearly impossible to kill. I tried to step on it and finally had to twist my foot on it and even though it’s body was torn apart (sorry but I’m not taking chances of my children being bitten/stung by that thing), it was still moving around. The one I saw last night wasn’t as vibrant red as the others. My friend calls is a cow killer so I’m not sure if it’s possible for animals to die from the sting/bite or not.
wow i saw one just like it a min ago and it was in my pool it really freaked me out and at first i thought it was a spider then a wasp then i thought maybe thats what they call the cow ant! i was like what the hell iz that!!!
ive never seen anything like it!!!
i was so curious that i went and got a big tall glass and scoped it up and looked at it for a while then went straight to the computer to find out about it it was furry and big
what ever it is, it looks VERY Dangerous like it would hurt really bad if it stung you