This one was photographed on the east side of Tucson, AZ on top of Reddington Pass. It was running across the ground quickly looking for a hornet nest. The flightless solitary Wasps are Order Hymenoptera/ Family Mutillidae. Sacken’s Velvet Ant eats bees and wasps. The hairs allow it to survive cave ins when it enter the burrows of sand wasps, The female Velvet Wasp can deliver a very painful sting.
This one was photographed on the east side of Tucson, AZ on top of Reddington Pass. It was running across the ground quickly looking for a hornet nest
RE: Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla sackeni) Rating: 5.00 out of 10
Sun Jun 14 2009 1: 29 pm
I was up at saguaro lake sat, june 13,2009 and we saw a fury red insect running and we all were saing that it was a spider;fire ant? I looked this picture up and now I know it was a velvet ant. I wish I would have taken a picture. I am glade that you took a picture.
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