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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 » Klug's Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla klugii)

Species Dasymutilla klugii - Klug's Velvet Ant

Classification · Explanation of Names · Identification · See Also · Works Cited
Velvet Ant, Dasymutilla klugii - Dasymutilla klugii Velvet ant - Dasymutilla klugii Unknown 'Bug' 4324 - Dasymutilla klugii Dasymutilla - Dasymutilla klugii - female D. klugii - Dasymutilla klugii - female Dasymutilla klugii - female Dasymutilla klugii - female Dasymutilla klugii - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Pompiloidea (Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies)
Family Mutillidae (Velvet Ants)
Subfamily Sphaeropthalminae
Tribe Dasymutillini
Genus Dasymutilla
Species klugii (Klug's Velvet Ant)
Explanation of Names
Dasymutilla klugii (Gray 1832)
klugii = named after Johann Christoph Friedrich Klug, a German hymenopterist and coleopterist
Identification
Easily recognized in Texas among similarly colored species by its large size (never under half inch) and head narrower than the thorax. It is separated from the desert southwest D. magnifica, which doesn't occur in Texas, by the black integument of the abdomen (versus red).
See Also
D. klugii is one species within a southern Müllerian mimicry ring. It overlaps with several species in Texas. D. gorgon is separated by its broader head. Several smaller species also occur in Texas, including D. bioculata ("melanippe" form), D. klugioides D. meracula, D. texanella D. waco, D. wileyae, D. zelaya, and Pseudomethoca brazoria.(1)

In the desert southwest, similar species include D. nogalensis and D. magnifica, which don't range into Texas.
Works Cited
1.Squeaky velvet ant - dorsal
Contributed by George Waldren on 25 June, 2007 - 11:52am
Additional contributions by v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 26 June, 2021 - 9:00pm

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