Comments for furry gray insect (Gray Velvet ant)
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Comments for
furry gray insect (Gray Velvet ant)

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Thank-you
by: Anonymous

Thank you Moni & GG, Your help is greatly appreciated. I'm glad to know that they sting because our 2 yr old granddaughter loves to pick up bugs. Rolly-pollies especially.
Velvet Ant
by: GG

It looks like a Thistledown Velvet Ant, possibly Dasymutilla gloriosa. They look a bit like creosote bush seeds. This one has a bit shorter "hairs" than many I've dealt with, but they do vary. While they do sting painfully, you have to really harass it to do so--either on purpose or accident. They're cute, I think, but that's the biologist in me, I suppose.
Gray Velvet ant
by: Moni

Rebecca
The wingless female does have a painful sting.

She lays eggs in sand wasp burrows where the larva of the velvet ant feeds on the sand wasp larva as well as the food of paralyzed flies the female Sand Wasp provides for her young. Male Velvet Ants do have wings and fly.
Thanks
by: Rebecca

Thanks Moni. It is good to know the name of this little guy. One question, since it is a wasp, does it sting?
Gray Velvet ant
by: Moni

Rebecca
Well, yes it does look like a strange velvet ant...my thoughts exactly. However,with a little searching it is a Gray velvet ant also called thistledown velvet ant found in So. Calif. It is really not an ant but a wasp, which makes it sound more confusing!?

There seems to be some confusion to the actual species...it might be the same as the red velvet ant or a subspecies. If the velvet ant experts don't know...I know I don't know...that is not my area of expertise.
Hope that helps a little.
Velvet Ant?
by: Anonymous

Looks like a strange Velvet Ant.

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