[cacoseraph]

Dasymutilla sackenii, Sackeni's velvet ant





Dasymutilla is a genus of velvet ants that belongs to the family (Mutillidae). Contrary to what the common name, velvet ant, implies these are not ants, but rather are solitary living wasps. This is a female and as you can see, is wingless. Males possess wings, can fly, and sometimes look quite different from the female of their species.

Velvet ants in general are reputed to have fairly powerful stings. One species, D. occidentalis, is known as the cow-killer due to its powerful sting. It most likely does not really kill cows, though. They also have powerful, fanglike biting parts to their mouth. Generally speaking, they should be treated with respect and not, um, played with as i am doing here.

There are at least two of these whitish species in range of me, D. gloriosa and D. sackenii. Gloriosa seems larger and to have noticeable white hair on its legs, which this specimen seems to lack... therefore i am guessing it is D. sackenii. A third species, D. thetis, might be a possiblity, but it too seems to possess notieable white hair on its legs and so i discounted it.

The picture of the pinned insect is of the related species, D. gloriosa and was taken by Gunther Tschuch. The picture is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5.

Dasymutilla are capable of producing a squeaking sound when frightened or otherwise bothered. Dasymutilla reproduce by the female laying eggs in the burrows of other ground living wasps. Dasymutilla larva will eat the food and eventually the larva of the other wasps.

[This video has been uploaded from a 25/10MB MOV file]

Dasymutilla sackenii white velvet ant solitary wasp cow killer


HIFI (from 25MB MOV):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBtqRaQ4zI

LOFI (from 10MB MOV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHLRCI-zC_g

[VespidGirl]

Wow! Beautiful velvet ant! I love them!

[GBVK]

Velvet ants are solitary? Not long ago i found a huge group of velvet ants on a sand patch and they were entering and exiting holes in the ground like regular worker ants

[009Aaa]

I do not have a pinned insect collection yet. But when I do the Velvet ant will be a top priority. The blue and red variety are awesome looking!

[cacoseraph]

Velvet ants are solitary? Not long ago i found a huge group of velvet ants on a sand patch and they were entering and exiting holes in the ground like regular worker ants

that was my impression from experience and what little i read. i can't really say what you saw, it runs counter to my understanding of Dasymutilla. is it possible you were seeing a different genus or even family?

[VespidGirl]

GBVK, I think I know what you saw!

Wasps in the family mutillidae are solitary wasps. They are parasites of ground burrowing solitary wasps(eg., Cicada Killers, Horse guards, and bembix sand wasps). Cicada killers may have several tunnels in a very small area, so the Velvet ants were probably going in to find their hosts and then leaving after laying eggs.

Hope this helps!

[GBVK]

that was my impression from experience and what little i read. i can't really say what you saw, it runs counter to my understanding of Dasymutilla. is it possible you were seeing a different genus or even family?
[/quote]

They werent the white ones, but the red ones with the tiny bit of white on the stinger.
[attachment=24351:VelvetAntSpecies.jpg]
But the whole time i was certain that these were solitary as well, since theyre velvet ants. Theyre kind of rare where i live but then i found a huge group and they were entering and exiting little holes in the ground while the males flew around.

[GBVK]

GBVK, I think I know what you saw!

Wasps in the family mutillidae are solitary wasps. They are parasites of ground burrowing solitary wasps(eg., Cicada Killers, Horse guards, and bembix sand wasps). Cicada killers may have several tunnels in a very small area, so the Velvet ants were probably going in to find their hosts and then leaving after laying eggs.

Hope this helps!

They burrows were tiny and just the right size for the ants to go in. Its possible that they were small burrows from a sand wasp or something.

The very dense population of velvet ants on this tiny patch of sand that i found probably created the illusion that they were acting socially.

[Zeebera]

Velvet ants are solitary? Not long ago i found a huge group of velvet ants on a sand patch and they were entering and exiting holes in the ground like regular worker ants

Yes completely solitary..

What you witnessed was "The Gathering" of fertile males and females for mating. It is common for species of Hymenopteran reproductives to aggregate to an area...kind of like a family reunion to mate.

Without winessing exactly what you saw, my bess guess is that was what you saw

This post has been edited by Zeebera: 14 August 2009 - 10:02 AM