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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies (Pompiloidea) » Velvet Ants (Mutillidae) » Sphaeropthalminae » Dasymutillini » Dasymutilla » Dasymutilla satanas
Photo#667998
Male and Female Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla satanas - male - female
Copyright © 2012 Nicholas A. Rice

Male and Female Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla satanas - Male Female
Las Vegas Wash within the Clark County Wetlands Park, Clark County, Nevada, USA
July 3, 2012
I know the image quality is poor (taken with a cell phone) but getting a male and female together is so rare, I thought I should post it.
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Contributed by Jason R Eckberg on 3 July, 2012 - 2:59pm
Last updated 4 July, 2012 - 10:30am

Moved
Moved from Velvet Ants.
… Jason R Eckberg, 4 July, 2012 - 10:30am login or register to post comments

Almost certainly Dasymutilla satanas
The color of the male gives the ID away. Male D. satanas have the head and mesosoma entirely black, while much of the metasoma has red/orange setae (they look similar to D. klugii and D. magnifica males). Now, one would assume that the female would be similarly colored, as in both sexes of D. klugii and D. magnifica, but not so. Female D. satanas have the head, mesosoma and metasoma covered with orange setae.

Excellent shot -- especially since it is an unusual (and apparently forceful) approach by the male from the front.
… George Waldren, 4 July, 2012 - 12:01am login or register to post comments

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