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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 » Common Eastern Velvet Ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis)
Photo#31663
Cow Killer - Dasymutilla occidentalis - female
Copyright © 2005 Christopher C Wirth

Cow Killer - Dasymutilla occidentalis - Female
Powhatan County, Virginia, USA
August 20, 2005
Look at that stinger!
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Contributed by Christopher C Wirth on 15 September, 2005 - 6:04pm
Last updated 9 September, 2006 - 11:21pm

Yeah....
...that must only be a portion of the stinger. I've picked one up with hemostats before, and it's quite amazing how long and scary the stinger can be.
… Cameron D. Peebles, 7 August, 2009 - 3:32pm login or register to post comments

Awesome!
Mutillids have the longest stinger to body length ratio of the stinging wasps. I don't think that specimen even has it fully extended. On some specimens that I have seen, it is fully as long as the whole abdomen! It is fascinating to think that a species as large as Dasymutilla occidentalis could probably give a through-and-through sting if it got the right spot. On that species the stinger itself can probably get to be a full centimeter long.
… Kevin Williams, 16 September, 2005 - 12:20am login or register to post comments

 
I agree.
I gently pinned a female to get a better look because it wouldn't stop moving, and the stinger was almost as long as the the whole wasp! I also think the wasp produced some kind of sound or vibration.
… Jeff Hollenbeck, 2 November, 2005 - 6:12pm login or register to post comments

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