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Species Dasymutilla aureola - Pacific Velvet Ant

Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla aureola - female Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla aureola - female Dasymutilla sp? - Dasymutilla aureola - female Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla aureola fuzzy insect on beach - Dasymutilla aureola Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla aureola - male ant - Dasymutilla aureola Red Velvet Ant - Dasymutilla aureola - 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 aureola (Pacific Velvet Ant)
Other Common Names
Pacific Red Velvet Ant
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Mutilla pacifica Cresson, 1875(1)
Dasymutilla aureola pacifica (Cresson, 1875)(1)
Explanation of Names
Dasymutilla aureola (Cresson 1865)
Identification
Males (winged): Head as wide as mesosoma; scarlet colored vestiture on dorsum of head, thorax, and abdominal tergites 3-6; median pit filled with setae is present on 2nd abdominal sternite (last character shared with some other species).
Females (wingless): Covered with red vestiture; thorax as broad as long, and the head is broader than the thorax.
(characters based on Hurd, 1951, and information provided by Kevin Williams.)
Range

Baja California, Mexico
USA: CA,OR.
Canada: British Columbia
(Hurd, 1951; see ref. below)
Print References
Hurd, Paul D., Jr. 1951. The California Velvet Ants of the Genus Dasymutilla Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). Bull. of the Calif. Insect Survey, Vol.1, No.4. (PDF version)