Today's Wildlife Photo

This is a Red Velvet Ant in Delmar, about the size of a large Wasp.



They invade the nests of wasps and bees so their integument (skin) is very tough and roughly textured to protect against stings. Like related families in the Vespoidea, males have wings but females are wingless. They exhibit extreme sexual dimorphism; the males and females are so different that it is almost impossible to associate the two sexes of a species unless they are captured while mating. In a few species the male is so much larger than the female that he carries her aloft while mating, which is also seen in the related family Tiphiidae.

In mutillids, as in all Hymenoptera, only the females sting because the stinger is a modified ovipositor. A structure called a stridulitrum on the metasoma is used to produce a squeaking, or chirping sound when handled. Both sexes of mutillids bear hair-lined grooves on the side of the metasoma called felt lines. The segments of the female mesosoma are fused dorsally, a feature unique to this group. Only one other vespoid family (Bradynobaenidae) has felt lines, but the females have a distinct pronotum and an elongated ant-like petiole.

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