Other Common Names
Common Eastern Velvet Ant, Red Velvet Ant
Identification
Females recognized by large size, bold black-and-orange pattern, thorax longer than wide, tip of abdomen has no hair. Hair on dorsal surface may be yellowish, orange, or dull red. Underside is all jet black. Up close, the tips of the middle and hind femora are rounded.
Males have dark brown wings, have different dorsal pattern from female--thorax, head, and only distal half of abdomen have red/orange hairs. (See this
illustration from the Univ. of Minnesota.)
This is apparently the largest eastern Dasymutilla, and is the one most frequently noticed.
Range
Connecticut to Florida, west to Missouri, Texas.
Habitat
Meadows, old fields, edges of forests.
Season
Late spring to early fall. May-September (North Carolina).
Food
Adults (males?) take nectar.
Life Cycle
Invades the nest of bumble bees, especially Bombus fraternus. Female searches for bumble bee nests, digs down and deposits one egg near brood chamber. Larva of the Dasymutilla enters the bumble bee brood chamber, kills those larvae, and feeds on them. Larva pupates in the bumble bee brood chamber.
Remarks
Females have a very painful sting.
Print References
Swan and Papp, p. 547--description
(1)
Milne, pp. 818-819, fig. 325
(2)
Salsbury, p. 264--photo
(3)
Drees, pp. 282-283, fig. 344
(4)
Borror and White, p. 344--description family, p. 344--illustration of female and male
Dasymutilla, plate 15--color illustration of female D. occidentalis
(5)
Internet References
University of Minnesota--has linked images of female and male.
