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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 » Thistledown Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa)

Species Dasymutilla gloriosa - Thistledown Velvet Ant

Classification · Other Common Names · Explanation of Names · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Works Cited
Dimorphic male - Dasymutilla gloriosa - male Thistledown Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla gloriosa - female Dasymutilla gloriosa? - Dasymutilla gloriosa - female Thistledown Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla gloriosa - male Thistledown Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla gloriosa - male white fuzzball - Dasymutilla gloriosa - female Dasymutilla gloriosa? - Dasymutilla gloriosa - female velvet ant - Dasymutilla gloriosa - 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 gloriosa (Thistledown Velvet Ant)
Other Common Names
Grey Velvet Ant
Explanation of Names
Dasymutilla gloriosa (Saussure 1868)
from the Latin glōriōsa ('glorious, famous, conceited')

Thistledown velvet ant
named due to the similarity of this species' long, gray setae to the seeds of the Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), which has the same texture as the down or pappus of thistles
Size
13-16 mm
Identification
Body black-red, but covered, in wingless female, by long white hair. Female resembles tuft of down or creosote seed (Larrea tridentata), prevalent in its habitat.

In comparison to Dasymutilla pseudopappus, the integument is somewhat red-tinged (not truly black), and the head and thorax have less erect setae.
Range
sw. US (TX-NV-CA) south into Mexico; common in TX(1)
Habitat
Deserts or near-deserts
Life Cycle
Female lays eggs in burrows of sand-wasps, such as Bembix. The larvae feed on larvae of the wasp and the food provided by the adult wasps. Pupation occurs in larval chambers of host(2)(1).
Remarks
The females of this species were once thought to be mimics of the seeds of the Creosote bush ( Larrea tridentata), but the appearance is now thought to be aposematic coloration instead.(3)
See Also

Dasymutilla pseudopappus


Dasymutilla thetis
Works Cited
1.A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects
Bastiaan M. Drees, John A. Jackman. 1998. Gulf Publishing.
2.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.
3.Does the thistledown velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) mimic Creosote bush seeds? A phylogenetic approach
Kevin A. Williams, Joseph S Wilson, and James Purser Pitts. 2010. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting [Conference].
Contributed by Joel Kits on 17 March, 2005 - 11:23pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, v belov, PaleoJon
Last updated 25 June, 2021 - 2:14am

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