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Post By GammyAnnie
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Post By bergere
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08/03/12, 05:28 PM
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In Remembrance
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 6,844
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Red and Black Ground Wasp?
I'm told they lose their wings and are then ground-based. Locally called 'cow killers' for their sting. Anyone know their formal name so I can do an Internet search on them?
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08/03/12, 06:10 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: N.W. Illinois
Posts: 461
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I think they are also called Red Velvet Ants, even though they aren't ants, but I have yet to find the formal name for them.
Annie
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08/03/12, 06:12 PM
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Guest
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 3,552
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Is that the same thing called "cow ants"?
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08/03/12, 06:33 PM
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: maine
Posts: 2,324
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brou27Jul12 - Dasymutilla occidentalis - BugGuide.Net
Is that it?
In FL, I saw what people called a cow killer. Was more like a big non segmented wasp. Fuzzy. Non aggressive.
Audubon Field Guide to Insects has a prime color plate of what I saw.
Last edited by frankva; 08/03/12 at 06:35 PM.
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08/03/12, 07:20 PM
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In Remembrance
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 6,844
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Mutillidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yes, Red Velvet Ant. Called both 'cow killer' and 'cow ant'.
I haven't seen one on my farm in many years. However, a neighbor who grazes horses in yard, so it is bear, sees them all the time.
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08/03/12, 08:16 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: MO
Posts: 3,519
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DO NOT get stung by one... if ya can help it. Experience...
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08/04/12, 09:27 AM
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: KY South Central
Posts: 3,512
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Another link
Velvet Ant or Cow Killer Ant
I saw two of these last week on my driveway. I had no idea they were wasps and females have a painful sting!
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08/04/12, 09:32 AM
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Guest
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 3,552
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok
Mutillidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yes, Red Velvet Ant. Called both 'cow killer' and 'cow ant'.
I haven't seen one on my farm in many years. However, a neighbor who grazes horses in yard, so it is bear, sees them all the time.
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When I was young in S FL, I used to catch "cow ants" and put them in a glass jar. You could hold the jar close to your ear sometimes and hear the ant make a humming or growling kind of noise. I still see a few here in GA.
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08/04/12, 11:09 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: south Carolina
Posts: 628
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We love velvet ants  The will only sting you if you provoke them and they prey on ground wasps - which we are not fans of! Plus they are very pretty.
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08/05/12, 12:29 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 1
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I saw one today for the first time in years. Moving back to the country helped the odds I'm sure . I remember as a kid they were tough buggers and they would make a squeaking noise if molested and their stinger looked like a wasps.
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08/07/12, 12:55 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 690
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Ken,
Yes they are called velvet ants of the family Mutillidae. A number of specties have the long dense colored "hair". And they are a wasp that loose their wings usually after one flight. I see 3 or 4 species regularly in Marshall County Alabama, including 2 without the "hair".
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08/08/12, 07:06 AM
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Just living Life
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Now in Virginia
Posts: 8,277
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Now I know what I killed in the Horse shed a couple of weeks ago... and boy it was hard to kill!
Lots of weird insects here...
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Shari
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08/08/12, 11:07 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SE Oklahoma
Posts: 2,005
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See them nearly daily in my gardens. From small to large.
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08/08/12, 04:13 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: MO
Posts: 3,519
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bergere
Now I know what I killed in the Horse shed a couple of weeks ago... and boy it was hard to kill!
Lots of weird insects here...
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HARD to kill in soft dirt... and don't bother if you are wearing flip-flops!!!
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Home is the hunter, home from the hill, and the sailor home from the sea...
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08/08/12, 05:58 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: south Carolina
Posts: 628
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Why would you want to kill them??
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08/09/12, 04:19 AM
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Just living Life
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Now in Virginia
Posts: 8,277
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arcticow
HARD to kill in soft dirt... and don't bother if you are wearing flip-flops!!!
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Good thing, horse person I am, I am either wearing boots or Muckruckers.
No flip flops around horses.
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Shari
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08/09/12, 04:21 AM
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Just living Life
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Now in Virginia
Posts: 8,277
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bat Farm
Why would you want to kill them??
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If it can either make a cow sick or kill a cow, it can hurt a horse.
And I since at the time I did not know what it was, I wasn't going to pick it up and move it away from the horses.
Bright pretty colors, usually mean, toxic or poisonous.
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Shari
Last edited by bergere; 08/09/12 at 04:25 AM.
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08/09/12, 07:50 AM
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In Remembrance
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 6,844
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Biggest danger is likely to a child stepping on one barefoot or a small animal laying down on one. They are said to be non-aggressive and will flee if given the opportunity.
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08/09/12, 08:13 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Maryland
Posts: 3,596
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Yeah, I killed one the other day because it was near the kids swingset. I normally don't like killing insects (well, I only kill bad ones in the garden) but I didn't want that sucker stining anyone.
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08/09/12, 12:55 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: MO
Posts: 3,519
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They won't kill a cow, but sure will put a knot where they sting one...
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