# I call this a Cow Killer



## Carolina-Family-Farm (Aug 2, 2005)

*Velvet Ant*

Velvet Ant, and yep ................very painful sting!


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## MapMan (May 24, 2007)

One question - why would you want to pick it up?

MM


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Whoa. Whoa. Nightmare material. That was MY question too MM..


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## Robert166 (Mar 12, 2005)

Well I was about 14 years old and had never seen one before and thought "man what a cool looking bug" And I picked it up and held it for about .0001 of a second. It let me know it didn't like to be held. A lesson I will never forget!


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

Like the guy said when he picked up the red hot piece of metal and dropped it. "Nope, not to hot, just don't take me long to look at something!" 

Got a friend with fond memories of stepping on one barefooted. 

Aren't they pretty little things though. Haven't seen any yet this year. I like em. They like to kill Cicada Killers, which like to eat my bees!!! Grrrrrrrr


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

It's pretty neat looking, but anything those colors demands respect...


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## nsmith1957 (Sep 7, 2006)

I have always heard them called cow ants. They mostly get stepped on. Aint a funny experience neither.


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## mike haney (Feb 9, 2007)

just curious: how does one of these kill a cicadia killer when they can't fly? do you know why? food/self defense? thanks,mike


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

"Cow killer" is what they called it where I grew up also but I also heard "velvet ant". It's actually a wingless wasps. Dasymutilla magnifica


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Ok, so how big are they really?


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## Keith Benson (Feb 17, 2003)

George Fergusson said:


> Ok, so how big are they really?


 
Two feet . . . . 



About an inch.

Keith


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## BaldyLocks (Apr 22, 2005)

I've had them around my apiary and they were about 1.5 inches or so. They seem to move randomly and were hard for me to photograph...the pics that started this thread are awesome!

One tried to get into one hive and the bees killed it. Not sure what it was doing up in the hive (looking for food I guess) but it didn't survive.


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## samiyam318 (Jan 18, 2006)

Its sting registers a 3.0 on the Schmidt Pain Index. This is near the high end, and is equivalent to the sting of a paper wasp, which the index describes as having someone use a drill to excavate and ingrown toenail, or that of the red harvester ant, which is described as having someone spill a beaker of hydrochloric acid into a paper cut.

The bullet ant (mostly Central American), at 4+ on the scale, is described as being "like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel."


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

mike haney said:


> just curious: how does one of these kill a cicadia killer when they can't fly? do you know why? food/self defense? thanks,mike



"The adult velvet ants feed on nectar and water. The immature stages are external parasites of wasp that nest in the ground like cicada killer wasp. Cicada killer wasp dig burrows into the ground. The adult cicada killer wasp capture and paralyze cicadas and drag them into the underground burrow. The wasp lays an egg on the cicada and after it hatches, the cicada killer wasp larva uses the cicada as a food source.


Here is where the velvet ant comes into the picture. After the developing cicada killer wasp have formed cocoons, the adult female velvet ants slip into the hole in the ground where the nest is located and lays eggs on the cocoon. The velvet ant larvae hatch and feed on, eventually killing, the developing wasp larvae. When it ready to become an adult, the velvet ant pupates inside the nest of the wasp where it will emerge the next season."



http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/CowKiller.shtml


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## pahvantpiper (Apr 25, 2006)

*Me too*

When I was a kid I too picked one up thinking they were neat looking, that was a big mistake! Since then I just smash them when I see them which is difficult as they'e very hard. We called 'em cow killers too.

-Rob


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