Dasymutilla sackenii, Sackeni's velvet ant

[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