An ID please...

[BruceC 0]

 

I grabbed a quick shot (sorry for the blur but this critter was really moving along). I found it crawling around at a fishing access on the Big Hole River in Mt. this past fall. I showed the picture to some local fly shop owners and no one had a clue.

 

Thanks,

Bruce

[purolohi kalastaja 0]

two guesses based upon a quick peek at one of my field guides: a red harvester ant, or a fire ant. Like I said, though, just guesses, b/c none of the ants I've seen have that distinct black band around the thin waist area....

[BruceC 0]

Thanks for the quick reply... I don't think it's a fire ant. It had a "hairy" body that is difficult to see from the photos. I'll check out the Harvester Ant now that you mention it. It caught my eye with its bright colors and quick movement. It was fairly large as far as ants go.

 

Cheers,

Bruce

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I'm no expert but it looks like a red carpenter ant

[BruceC 0]

I enlarged this a bit so you can see the hairy, spider like legs and waxy looking body. It really looked more like a spider and after blowing up the shot, there may actually be 4 pair of legs...

 

[DrVette 0]

I have been trying to figure out what those are for about 15 years. We have a very similar one here that has 2 black bands around a white band on the tip of its tail. They move more like a bee than an ant and if you put one in a tin can it can make the can buzz. The body is fuzzy like a bumbble bee. They are close to 3/4" long. I picked one up and it stung the palm of my hand with it's tail. The sting felt more like an electrical shock, and i never found a stinger in one... it was like it buzzed the tail against my palm. Several hours later the sting turned into a very sore blister and i got sick a as dog that night. I would be VERY scared to find a hill of them. To date i have only seen 3 (each very alone)and have one in a jar some-where. These things move FAST. I took the one in the jar to the local college and asked 2 entomologists to id it...they said, since it was dead, that it was some kind of bee/wasp and that i just took off it's wings...they never did figure it out.

[j74snook 0]

We always called them cow killers. If a cow eats them they could die. thats what ive heard from the farmers around here in FL.

[ibboone 0]

I seen a peice in the news paper years ago about these bee/ants. It is from the wasp family. I have seen alot of them at my dads house when I was growing up.

 

Hope this helps you out on your quest to find out the unknown bug.

 

Dan

[BruceC 0]

Thanks guys. I'll keep at it and see if I can come up with an answer. What was really amazing was that the local fisherman in Dillon, MT. couldn't ID it for me. I found another one on the cement step of one of the fly shops so it's not like it's just a deep woods insect.

 

Bruce

[smallieFanatic 0]

Looks like what they call "Earth Babies" in CA, when my brother-in-law and his brothers where little they would always squash em on sight

[purolohi kalastaja 0]

From page 371 of NWF Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America:

 

COW KILLER dasymutilla occidentalis 5/8 - 1" (15-25mm)

Velvet Ants, Family Mutillidae

 

RANGE South Dakota south to eastern Texas and east to Connecticut and Florida.

 

female- a hairy, antlike, wingless wasp; black band across middle of abdomen

male - dark, shiny wings; front half of abdomen black

 

"This is the largest species of velvet ant in North America. It is named for the mistaken belief that its very painful sting is fatal to cattle. During spring and summer, lone females run quickly onthe ground and males fly in open habitats and woodland edges, especially in sandy areas. Adults feed on nectar. Females lay a single egg at entrances of bumble bee nests; larvar are external parasites on bumble bee larvae and pupate in the nest."

 

 

Based upon the photo in the field guide, your photo, and your description of fuzziness, I have no doubt in my mind that it is a female Cow Killer.

 

 

 

-PK

[BruceC 0]

I think you're right, Purolohi. With the Latin name you provided, I was able to take a look at some references on the web. The only difference is that the one I saw seems not to have the second black band at the rear of the abdomen. I did find one picture that also didn't have that band and it was a sub species.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help. This site gets more amazing every day.

 

Bruce C

 

[DrVette 0]

I want to give you a big thanks also. The descriptions i found are almost exact to the sub i have found here also...no wonder the PhDs thought i was trying to trick them with a wasp...it is a wasp...huh? Now given the low toxicity they describe i wonder if i have an allergy to them or my getting sick was a coincidence???

At least i know that there aren't any hidden hills of thousands of these...I honestly have feared that.

Thank-you all for this teaching.

[JSzymczyk 0]

PK nailed the ID. Various species of these are widely scattered across the world. Reportedly they have one of the most painful stings of any North American insect. I guarantee if you pick one up and get hit, you will never do it again! It will hurt like bloody hell for up to 24 hours, less if you are lucky. They seem to be especially attractive to kids because of the bright color and quick movement. The venom, like that of most wasps, is unlikely to cause any aniphylactic reaction like a honeybee sting can- but it could happen. A person who is hypersensitive could have extreme swelling, closing of the airways, suffocation, etc. Very rare, and extremely unlikely to cause someone to get "sick".

 

 

Looks like what they call "Earth Babies" in CA,

Here's another major problem of common names in the insect world... The insects I've heard of called "earth babies" were always either Mole Crickets -family Gryllotalpidae- or Jerusalem Crickets -family Gryllacrididae- which are harmless and totally unrelated to wasps. Jerusalem Crickets are seriously alien looking.

[JRG 0]

Yep, that's a Velvet Ant for sure.

 

Basically a wingless wasp.