Velvet-ant
Guides
Acrophotopsis
Acrophotopsis is a genus of velvet ants (family Mutillidae) established by Schuster in 1958. Velvet ants are solitary wasps characterized by dense, velvety hair and aposematic coloration. Females are wingless and often mistaken for ants, while males possess wings. The genus is poorly documented with minimal observational records.
Apopria coveri
Apopria coveri is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary wasps known for their striking aposematic coloration and powerful sting. Females are wingless and resemble large, hairy ants, while males possess wings. The genus Apopria is part of the subfamily Sphaeropthalminae, which is primarily distributed in the New World. Like other mutillids, this species is likely parasitoid, with females seeking out ground-nesting hosts such as solitary bees or wasps to deposit their eggs.
Dasymutilla
velvet ants, cow killers
Dasymutilla is a genus of solitary wasps in the family Mutillidae, commonly known as velvet ants. The genus contains the majority of North American velvet ant species. Females are wingless, densely hairy, and often brightly colored in aposematic patterns of red, orange, or white against black. Males possess wings and may differ substantially in coloration from females, leading to historical taxonomic confusion. The genus is notable for females' potent stings, among the most painful of any insect, and for forming one of the world's largest known Müllerian mimicry complexes.
Dasymutilla angulata
Dasymutilla angulata is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. Like all mutillids, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species belongs to a genus characterized by aposematic coloration advertising their potent defensive sting. As with other Dasymutilla species, D. angulata likely develops as an external parasitoid of ground-nesting wasps or bees, though specific host records for this species are not documented in available sources.
Dasymutilla arenerronea
Dasymutilla arenerronea is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, described by Bradley in 1916. Like all mutillids, it is actually a wasp rather than an ant, with wingless females and winged males. The species belongs to a large genus of solitary parasitoid wasps that primarily target ground-nesting bees and wasps. Females are capable of delivering a painful sting, a trait common across the family.
Dasymutilla arenivaga
Desert Velvet Ant
Dasymutilla arenivaga is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, first described by Mickel in 1928. Like all mutillids, it is a solitary wasp with wingless females and winged males, exhibiting the pronounced sexual dimorphism characteristic of this group. The species inhabits arid and semi-arid regions of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
Dasymutilla asopus
Dasymutilla asopus is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. Like all mutillids, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species exhibits the bright aposematic coloration typical of the genus, warning predators of its potent sting. As a parasitoid wasp, females seek out ground-nesting hosts to deposit their eggs. The species occurs across western North America, with confirmed observations from multiple states and provinces.
Dasymutilla asteria
Dasymutilla asteria is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, a group of solitary parasitoid wasps. Like other mutillids, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species was described by Mickel in 1936. Velvet ants in this genus are known for their aposematic coloration and potent sting, particularly in females.
Dasymutilla atricauda
Dasymutilla atricauda is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. The species was described by Mickel in 1936. Like other members of the genus, females possess a potent sting and exhibit aposematic coloration warning predators of their defensive capabilities. The species is part of the large Müllerian mimicry complex formed by North American velvet ants.
Dasymutilla aureola
Pacific velvet ant
Dasymutilla aureola, commonly known as the Pacific velvet ant, is a species of solitary wasp in the family Mutillidae. Despite its common name, it is not an ant but a wingless female wasp. The species is found in the western United States and is characterized by its large, square-shaped head and dense hair coloration in red, yellow, or orange. Like other velvet ants, females possess a potent sting used for defense and subduing hosts.
Dasymutilla bioculata
velvet ant
Dasymutilla bioculata is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitic wasps in which only males possess wings. This species was taxonomically consolidated in 2010, when molecular and morphological analysis demonstrated that 21 previously recognized species and subspecies were actually conspecific. The species exhibits strong sexual dimorphism: females are wingless and run rapidly across the ground searching for host nests, while males fly and visit flowers. Females possess a potent sting used for defense. The species is a parasitoid of ground-nesting sand wasps in the genera Bembix and Microbembex.
Dasymutilla californica
Dasymutilla californica is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae) native to California and adjacent regions. Like all mutillids, females are wingless and possess a potent sting, while males are winged and do not sting. This species is part of a large genus of solitary parasitoid wasps that target ground-nesting bees and wasps. The species name reflects its primary geographic association with California.
Dasymutilla calorata
Dasymutilla calorata is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, first described by Mickel in 1928. Like other members of the genus, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species belongs to a large group of solitary parasitoid wasps known for their potent sting and aposematic coloration. Specific biological details for this species remain poorly documented in published literature.
Dasymutilla coccineohirta
Dasymutilla coccineohirta is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae) native to western North America. Females are wingless and possess a potent sting, while males are winged. The species exhibits notable variation in female coloration, with setae ranging from red to white. First described by Charles Alfred Blake in 1871 from a California specimen, it was recently synonymized with Dasymutilla clytemnestra. The species can be distinguished from similar taxa by its smaller marginal wing cell and coarser body pilosity.
Dasymutilla creon
Dasymutilla creon is a species of velvet ant, a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in the family Mutillidae. Like all mutillids, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species occurs in the south-central and eastern United States, with documented records from Kansas to Texas and eastward to North Carolina. As with other Dasymutilla species, females are capable of delivering a painful sting and exhibit the family's characteristic aposematic coloration.
Dasymutilla fasciventris
Dasymutilla fasciventris is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. The species occurs in the southwestern United States and western Mexico. Like other Dasymutilla species, females possess a powerful sting used for defense and host subjugation, while males are harmless and fly in search of nectar and mates. The species develops as an external parasitoid of ground-nesting bees and wasps.
Dasymutilla foxi
velvet ant
Dasymutilla foxi is a velvet ant species in the family Mutillidae, found in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The species exhibits highly variable setal coloration, with body segments ranging from whitish to reddish; eastern populations in Colorado, Kansas, and Texas typically display a black setal patch on the mesosoma. First described by Theodore D. A. Cockerell and named for William J. Fox, this species has been subject to taxonomic revision with Dasymutilla phoenix and Dasymutilla dugesii synonymized under it. Females are wingless and possess a potent sting, while males are winged.
Dasymutilla gorgon
Dasymutilla gorgon is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae) native to central North America. Like all mutillids, it is a solitary wasp with wingless females and winged males. The species occurs from Colorado to Louisiana, inhabiting arid and semi-arid regions. As a member of the genus Dasymutilla, females likely exhibit aposematic coloration warning of their potent sting.
Dasymutilla heliophila
Dasymutilla heliophila is a species of velvet ant, a family of solitary parasitic wasps in which only males possess wings. The species was described by Cockerell in 1900. Like other members of the genus Dasymutilla, females are wingless and possess a powerful sting. The species belongs to a diverse genus known for aposematic coloration and Müllerian mimicry complexes.
Dasymutilla leda
Dasymutilla leda is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, native to the central United States. Only females have been collected by scientists, making this a species known exclusively from wingless, solitary individuals. The male remains undescribed, though D. myrice has been proposed as a possible match based on distribution and coloration patterns. Like other velvet ants, females are capable of delivering a painful sting and are parasitoids of ground-nesting bees and wasps.
Dasymutilla macilenta
Dasymutilla macilenta is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. Like all mutillids, females are wingless and capable of delivering a painful sting, while males possess wings. The species belongs to a large genus of velvet ants distributed primarily in North America, with many species exhibiting bright aposematic coloration warning predators of their defensive capabilities.
Dasymutilla magna
Dasymutilla magna is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, described by Cresson in 1865. Like other members of the genus, females are wingless and possess a powerful sting, while males are winged. The species belongs to a large Müllerian mimicry complex where numerous velvet ant species share bright aposematic coloration warning predators of their defensive capabilities. Specific biological details for this species remain poorly documented in published literature.
Dasymutilla magnifica
Magnificent Velvet Ant
Dasymutilla magnifica, commonly called the magnificent velvet ant, is a wingless female wasp in the family Mutillidae found in arid regions of western North America. Like other velvet ants, females possess a potent sting used in defense and for subduing hosts. The species is notoriously difficult to distinguish from the sympatric Dasymutilla klugii based on external appearance alone. Males are winged and likely differ in coloration from females, though specific details for this species are not well documented.
Dasymutilla monticola
Dasymutilla monticola is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary wasps in which only males are winged. The species was described by Cresson in 1865. Like other mutillids, females are wingless and capable of delivering a painful sting. The species epithet 'monticola' suggests a mountain-dwelling habit. The genus Dasymutilla is one of the most species-rich genera in the family, with many species exhibiting bright aposematic coloration.
Dasymutilla myrice
Dasymutilla myrice is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. Like other members of this family, it is a solitary wasp with wingless females and winged males. The species belongs to a genus known for aposematic coloration and potent stings in females. Specific biological details for this species remain poorly documented.
Dasymutilla nigripes
velvet ant
Dasymutilla nigripes is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae) native to North America. Females are wingless and possess a powerful sting, while males are winged. The species has been documented as a likely parasite of beewolf wasp nests. It is widespread across the United States and occurs in Alberta, Canada.
Dasymutilla nogalensis
velvet ant
Dasymutilla nogalensis is a velvet ant species native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The male and female were originally described as separate species in 1928—Dasymutilla atrifulva for males and Dasymutilla nogalensis for females—before being synonymized in 2007 based on their conspecific status. As a member of the family Mutillidae, this species exhibits the characteristic sexual dimorphism of velvet ants: wingless females and winged males.
Dasymutilla occidentalis
Common Eastern Velvet Ant, Red Velvet Ant, Cow Killer, Cow Ant, Eastern Velvet Ant
Dasymutilla occidentalis is a large, solitary parasitoid wasp in the family Mutillidae, commonly known as the eastern velvet ant or cow killer. Females are wingless, densely covered in velvety red and black hairs, and possess an extremely painful sting. Males are winged and less conspicuously colored. The species is an external parasitoid of ground-nesting bees and wasps, with females actively searching for host nests to lay eggs on or near developing larvae. Despite its common name, it is not an ant but a true wasp, and its sting, while intensely painful, cannot actually kill a cow.
Dasymutilla parksi
Dasymutilla parksi is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. First described by Mickel in 1936, this species belongs to a genus containing over 450 North American species, many of which exhibit bright aposematic coloration advertising their potent sting. Like other velvet ants, females are known for their powerful defensive sting and erratic, rapid ground movement. The biology and host associations of D. parksi specifically remain poorly documented.
Dasymutilla satanas
Satan's velvet ant
Dasymutilla satanas, commonly called Satan's velvet ant, is a species of wingless female wasp in the family Mutillidae found in the arid deserts of the Great Basin region of North America. The species name references the harsh desert environment it inhabits. Females are notably large for the genus, comparable in size to Dasymutilla magna and Dasymutilla sackenii. Like other velvet ants, females possess a powerful sting and are solitary parasitoids of ground-nesting insects.
Dasymutilla scaevola
Dasymutilla scaevola is a velvet ant species native to North America, widely distributed across the eastern half of the continent. Like other mutillids, females are wingless while males possess wings. The species is a parasitoid wasp that develops within the cocoons of other ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Research has demonstrated that females locate host nests primarily through contact chemoreception of chemical cues from host cocoons and nest materials, rather than visual cues.
Dasymutilla sicheliana
Dasymutilla sicheliana is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. The species occurs in arid regions of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like other Dasymutilla species, females possess a powerful sting used for defense and host subjugation. The species develops as an external parasitoid of ground-nesting bees and wasps.
Dasymutilla stevensi
Dasymutilla stevensi is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, native to dryland regions of North America. The species was described by Mickel in 1928 and named for O. A. Stevens, who collected the type specimen in Medora, North Dakota. It occurs from North Dakota south to Guanajuato, Mexico, inhabiting arid and semi-arid environments. Like other velvet ants, females are wingless and capable of delivering a painful sting, while males possess wings and do not sting.
Dasymutilla texanella
Dasymutilla texanella is a velvet ant species in the family Mutillidae, a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. Like other Dasymutilla species, females possess a potent sting used for defense and host subjugation. The species was described by Mickel in 1928. As with most velvet ants, females are parasitoids of ground-nesting bees and wasps, laying eggs in host nests where larvae consume the host's developing young.
Dasymutilla thetis
minute thistledown velvet ant, Little Velvet Ant
Dasymutilla thetis, commonly known as the minute thistledown velvet ant, is a small velvet ant species endemic to Arizona. First described by Charles A. Blake in 1886 as Sphaerophthalma thetis, it was later transferred to Dasymutilla. The species is notable for its entirely white-furred females, which participate in a Müllerian mimicry complex among pale desert velvet ants. Its small size (approximately 7 mm) distinguishes it from larger thistledown velvet ants such as Dasymutilla gloriosa.
Dasymutilla waco
Dasymutilla waco is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary parasitoid wasps in which females are wingless and males are winged. The species was described by Blake in 1871 and belongs to the large genus Dasymutilla, which contains many brightly colored species known for their powerful sting. Like other velvet ants, females are active ground-dwellers that seek out host nests to parasitize. The species epithet "waco" refers to Waco, Texas, suggesting a type locality or association with that region.
Dasymutillini
velvet ants
Dasymutillini is a tribe of velvet ants (Mutillidae) characterized by dense, velvety pubescence and aposematic coloration. Members are solitary wasps with wingless females and winged males. The tribe includes the genus Dasymutilla, which contains numerous species across the Americas. Females are known for their extremely painful stings, among the most intense of any insect.
Dilophotopsis
Dilophotopsis is a genus of velvet ants (Mutillidae) in the order Hymenoptera. The genus was established by Schuster in 1958. As with other mutillids, members are solitary wasps with wingless females and winged males. One species, D. concolor crassa, has been documented with host associations.
Ephuta argenticeps
Ephuta argenticeps is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. Velvet ants are solitary wasps, with females being wingless and males winged. The species is known from a small number of observations, limiting detailed ecological understanding.
Ephuta pauxilla
Ephuta pauxilla is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae. The genus Ephuta contains small to medium-sized mutillids found primarily in North America. Like all velvet ants, females are wingless and wasp-like in appearance, while males possess wings. The species is poorly documented with minimal published information available.
Ephuta spinifera
Ephuta spinifera is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary wasps known for their dense, velvety pubescence and aposematic coloration. Like other mutillids, females are wingless and often mistaken for ants, while males are winged. The genus Ephuta is part of the diverse North American velvet ant fauna, though specific biological details for E. spinifera remain poorly documented in published literature.
Ephuta stenognatha
Ephuta stenognatha is a species of velvet ant (Mutillidae), a family of solitary wasps in which females are wingless and often brightly colored. The species is part of a genus distributed primarily in North America. Like other mutillids, females are known for their extremely painful sting, a defensive adaptation. The species is relatively poorly documented in published literature.
Lomachaeta cirrhomeris
Lomachaeta cirrhomeris is a species of velvet ant (Mutillidae) described in 2004 from the southwestern United States. It is one of six new species described in a taxonomic revision of the genus Lomachaeta. As with other mutillids, it is likely a solitary wasp with wingless females. Available information is limited to the original taxonomic description.
Lomachaeta hicksi
A species of velvet ant (Mutillidae) in the genus Lomachaeta, originally described by Mickel in 1936. The species was taxonomically consolidated in a 2004 revision, which established six junior synonyms under L. hicksi based on page priority. As a member of Mutillidae, it is a parasitoid wasp. The species is known from the southwestern United States and adjacent regions, with new distributional data reported in the revision.
Myrmilloides grandiceps
Myrmilloides grandiceps is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae) in the order Hymenoptera. Originally described as Mufilla grandiceps by Blake in 1872, it was later transferred to the genus Myrmilloides. The species epithet 'grandiceps' refers to the notably large head characteristic of this species. As with other mutillids, females are wingless and ant-like in appearance, while males possess wings. The genus Myrmilloides is part of the diverse velvet ant fauna of the New World.
Myrmosa bradleyi
Myrmosa bradleyi is a species of velvet ant wasp in the family Myrmosidae. The family Myrmosidae comprises small, parasitoid wasps that are closely related to Mutillidae (true velvet ants). Species in this family are typically wingless females and winged males, with females resembling ants in their terrestrial, ground-dwelling habits. Very little specific information is available for M. bradleyi, which has been documented from only a handful of observations.
Myrmosidae
Myrmosid Wasps
Myrmosidae is a small family of wasps in the superfamily Vespoidea, sister taxon to Sapygidae. Formerly treated as a subfamily of Mutillidae, it was elevated to family status in 2008 based on molecular and morphological evidence. Females are flightless and kleptoparasitic, entering nests of fossorial bees and wasps. The family contains approximately 10 genera and is distributed globally, though many regions remain understudied.
Odontophotopsis arcuata
Odontophotopsis arcuata is a species of velvet ant in the family Mutillidae, described by Mickel in 1983. Velvet ants (Mutillidae) are a family of solitary wasps in which females are wingless and often possess aposematic coloration and a powerful sting. The genus Odontophotopsis is characterized by distinctive mandibular and dental structures. This species is part of a diverse group of North American mutillids, though specific biological details for O. arcuata remain poorly documented in published literature.
Odontophotopsis inconspicua
Odontophotopsis inconspicua is a species of velvet ant (family Mutillidae), a group of solitary wasps known for their aposematic coloration and powerful sting. The genus Odontophotopsis is characterized by distinctive mandibular and dental structures. Like other mutillids, females are wingless and resemble ants, while males possess wings. This species was described by Blake in 1886. Very little specific biological information has been published for this particular species.
Odontophotopsis melicausa
A species of velvet ant in the genus Odontophotopsis, first described by Blake in 1871. The genus is characterized by distinctive dental modifications on the mandibles. Like other mutillids, this species exhibits sexual dimorphism with wingless females and winged males.