Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants. Red velvet ant or in scientific language Dasymutilla occidentalis is the name for an insect with a deceptive name.

Why is it called deceptive name? because the animal concerned is not really an ant, but a wingless female wasp.

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

Nor are red velvet ants completely red, as the insect's legs and lower body are black. The rest, this insect is named red velvet because the insect's body is covered in thick reddish fur.

There are several reasons why red velvet ants are not categorized as ants in scientific classifications despite their similar appearance.

First, if ants are social animals, then red velvet ants have a solitary lifestyle. Second, all true ant species have protrusions on the coffin, that is, a narrow limb that connects the chest and stomach, whereas red velvet ants do not.

Red Velvet ants are also known as cow killers because they are believed to kill cows with their stings. In fact, although red velvet ants do have very painful stings, the venom from red velvet ants is actually not strong enough to kill large animals.

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

Only the female red velvet ant can sting, because the sting was originally the outlet of the egg. Male velvet ants do not have stings, but have wings and can fly.

Although the red velvet ant has a painful sting, it is not really an aggressive animal and would not sting if it was not really forced.

As their most basic form of self-defense, red velvet ants rely on their striking body color to warn others not to mess around. When encountering larger creatures including humans, red velvet ants prefer to run away and hide.

Even if he's cornered, the red velvet ant can frighten his enemies by squeaking. Red velvet ants can make this sound by rubbing their limbs against each other.

But if the enemy still dares, the red velvet ant will use its excruciating sting to defend itself. To avoid being stung by these insects by accident, given the small size of only about two centimeters, local residents always wear footwear when walking outside.

Wasp and bee nest infiltration creatures

Red velvet ants are found only in the United States, especially in local grasslands, desert edges, and forest edges. Like other solitary wasps, adult red velvet ants live on nectar, while their larvae live on meat.

Red velvet ants have a parasitic behavior in which the larvae feed on animal supplies collected by other wasp species. At first, when the female red velvet ant has mated, she will search the ground for underground burrows created by cicada-hunting wasps to store prey.

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

For your information, cricket hunting wasps are solitary wasps whose females look for crickets to feed their larvae. If you have succeeded in getting the cricket, the wasp in question will sting the cricket so that it is paralyzed and unable to move.

After that the wasp will dig under the ground, insert the lame cricket into the burrow, and lay the eggs on top of the cricket's body before closing the door of the burrow.

After the eggs hatch, the larvae don't have to bother looking for food because they only have to eat the crickets that have been provided by their parents.

Back to the red velvet ant. If the female ant manages to find a burrow filled with crickets, she will dig a tunnel and lay eggs there.

Red velvet ant eggs take significantly less time than cricket wasp eggs to hatch, so velvet ant larvae can hatch first to eat the eggs of the burrowing crickets and wasps.

Red Velvet Ants, Cow Killer Ants

After that, the red velvet ant larvae will metamorphose into pupae and adult insects. It's not just cricket-hunting wasps that host red velvet ants.

Social insects such as bees, which build their nests underground, are also targeted by these ant-like insects.

Read More: Vulture Bees, Meat-eating Bees

Armed with powerful jaws and stingers, the female red velvet ant breaks through the nest and paralyzes the bees that get in her way.

Once at the nest, the red velvet ants will lay their eggs there. The newly hatched larvae then subsist on eating the larvae and pupae of bees stored there. By: Ochie

#animals #Insect