Red velvet ant!

[drurymercy]

So excited took my kid and my friends kids on a hike to a waterfall out here in slc. I’ve been planning a trip to go night time big hunting for red velvet ants and what do you know I found one on accident!!! Kinda freaked out lol and really wanted to hold it but refrained also a cute bombus bee not sure what species I’ve only seen one other before so super cool some lizards, and lots of dark fishing spiders!!! Crazy I didn’t know they carried their eggsacs in their mouths!!!

 

[Brewser]

I’ve been planning a trip to go night time big hunting for red velvet ants and what do you know I found one on accident!!!

Dasymutilla Occidentalis aka Red Velvet Ant / Cow Killer.
They are usually depicted as being Cherry Red with "Velvet"
Red Velvet Ant is actually a Species of Parasitoid Wasp ( Females being wingless )
Happy Hunting

 

[drurymercy]

Dasymutilla Occidentalis aka Red Velvet Ant / Cow Killer.
They are usually depicted as being Cherry Red with "Velvet"
Red Velvet Ant is actually a Species of Parasitoid Wasp ( Females being wingless )
Happy Hunting

Thank you!! I know I meant to bring a catch cup to get better pics but it was ok this time since I had little kids with me, lol I didn’t want any stings of them to accidentally squish something. But next Friday let’s hope I find them again!! Or a wild T out here in Utah. I’ve seen 3 up here by the U of U hospital walls but I’m not sure what species of Aphonopelma they are can’t wait to post a pic and get some insight!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Wow amazing I’ve never seen a Lizard in Ohio . Supposedly there here but wow that velvet ant looks amazing your state has some great species. I looked for fishing spiders at the park couldn’t find any.

 

[TheraMygale]

Those pics are amazing. Please keep sharing such beautiful discovering. Make a thread about hiking adventure treasures. I will definitely join in

many species use their mouths to carry sacs, ants the first. What a privilege to observe herps on a hike! Here, we only get your random frogs, turtles, and some salamanders. The rarer of these being very hard to see. Only those pluggled with the science teams usualy get to observe them, which i think is wrong.

My favorite part in May is to count as many salamanders i can in one hike. And when i get lucky, maybe an owl.

no touching is probably the hardest thing to do

when i find rare edible plants and mushrooms, my friends get angry i did not harvest.

 

[drurymercy]

Wow amazing I’ve never seen a Lizard in Ohio . Supposedly there here but wow that velvet ant looks amazing your state has some great species. I looked for fishing spiders at the park couldn’t find any.

Omg the lizards blend in!!! I have an affinity for lizards so I’m always on the lookout but believe it or not my first time seeing fishing spiders!! I almost moved to Ohio a few years back.

 

[drurymercy]

Those pics are amazing. Please keep sharing such beautiful discovering. Make a thread about hiking adventure treasures. I will definitely join in

many species use their mouths to carry sacs, ants the first. What a privilege to observe herps on a hike! Here, we only get your random frogs, turtles, and some salamanders. The rarer of these being very hard to see. Only those pluggled with the science teams usualy get to observe them, which i think is wrong.

My favorite part in May is to count as many salamanders i can in one hike. And when i get lucky, maybe an owl.

no touching is probably the hardest thing to do

when i find rare edible plants and mushrooms, my friends get angry i did not harvest.

Hi friend!!! Hahahaha yes no touching is hard!!! I have been bitten by many things and stung omg I bet you guys have sssooo much wildlife on your hikes!! We have a salamander pond but park rangers guard them which is good or everyone would collect them, what’s the most u have seen on a hike? Ive only seen 1 owl I love owls!!! Do u ever eat any of the edible mushrooms u find? Or just admire? I am going camping and fishing in 2 weeks we will start a thread then I can see your amazing pictures lol and now I know who I can show the mushrooms I find to. I didn’t know ants also did that! I need to pay better attention I think i once upon a time had a salamander now i have a axolotl named Felix here’s a pic!

 

[TheraMygale]

Hi friend!!! Hahahaha yes no touching is hard!!! I have been bitten by many things and stung omg I bet you guys have sssooo much wildlife on your hikes!! We have a salamander pond but park rangers guard them which is good or everyone would collect them, what’s the most u have seen on a hike? Ive only seen 1 owl I love owls!!! Do u ever eat any of the edible mushrooms u find? Or just admire? I am going camping and fishing in 2 weeks we will start a thread then I can see your amazing pictures lol and now I know who I can show the mushrooms I find to. I didn’t know ants also did that! I need to pay better attention I think i once upon a time had a salamander now i have a axolotl named Felix here’s a pic!

That is the best axolotl color shade ever. If i ever had the courage, that is the one i would pick. I love those! What a sad story they are. Only to exist in captovity… i mean, maybe a few rare in the wild, but if it was not for people keeping them as pets and the science people experimenting on them, they would not exist anymore.

we are going to have to copyright that thread hahaha. I eat some of the things i find. But rarely: allergic reactions are more common with new foods. Especialy fungi. I harvest very little. I slow sun dry everything i harvest. Then i make art with it. I guess that is what folks say, art. But basicaly, i just put natural found objects together and create a structure of nature. And i give them away.

i find alot of rare birds when i go out because i know what is rare and what is not. I could see owls more often because i know how to use ebird. But in the end, birds are volatile. Even if they were seen one day, they could have moved. So you need to know more about behavior. I found things people did not even believe. The thing is, when you do your research and learn things about other living things, you start to understand how they live.

Everytime i go on a hike, we find something. One of my friends swears by my hikes. It has become a problem
Ahahah. The expectations sigh.

it becomes second nature. It is also why i cannot be part of ornithology groups anymore. I see and find too much. And then there are too many people asking to many things. I do not get to enjoy my hike anymore. I can only travel with small groups of people who understand that i need space and calm. Only i get to go crazy

 

[drurymercy]

K just got back from camping and fishing there were a bunch of these white spotted sawyer beetles and man they don’t back down when I would try to pick them up they bite but some had white banding on the antenna which was so pretty some diplozan species a bunch of gorgeous dragon flies I couldn’t get a pic of the metallic blue ones but the craziest thing I couldn’t get a pic of was I’m assuming a hammerhead worm it was so small though wriggling up to my dogs eye so I panicked and threw my phone to save his eye I’ve never seen one before in Utah up in the uinta mountains. Does anyone know if there are any up there by bald mountain or mirror lake?

 

[TheraMygale]

I think some of those are longhorns. Could be just my local word for those. The sound they make in wood is intense. Very cool bugs.

nice photos!

 

[drurymercy]

I think some of those are longhorns. Could be just my local word for those. The sound they make in wood is intense. Very cool bugs.

nice photos!

Yes they burrow in wood!! I’ve only seen one before there were hundreds seeing my mom and siblings all screaming made my day

 

[DaveM]

Great finds!
Unfortunately for me, your velvet ant brings back childhood regret for when I lost a captured red velvet ant:

https://arachnoboards.com/threads/keeping-a-wasp.354164/post-3274018

Your posts capture the excitement many of us feel on encountering these creatures.
Keep up the good work

As an added note, I'm happy to see your white-spotted sawyer beetles, which are in the longhorn beetle family and are often mistaken for the invasive Asian longhorn beetle (which lacks the white spot yours have at the anterior medial junction of the elytra). Your beetles are good.

 

[drurymercy]

Great finds!
Unfortunately for me, your velvet ant brings back childhood regret for when I lost a captured red velvet ant:

https://arachnoboards.com/threads/keeping-a-wasp.354164/post-3274018

Your posts capture the excitement many of us feel on encountering these creatures.
Keep up the good work

As an added note, I'm happy to see your white-spotted sawyer beetles, which are in the longhorn beetle family and are often mistaken for the invasive Asian longhorn beetle (which lacks the white spot yours have at the anterior medial junction of the elytra). Your beetles are good.

Omg cool story and guess what I didn’t know that about males and stingers it makes complete sense idk how I didn’t put 2 and 2 together! Have you been able to see them out and about? I’ve only seen them twice so maybe more at disk I need to go out? Hahaha I even do this in my yard and get so excited. Here’s some pics from Sunday!! For reference my thumb but still not a good job she was HUGE! Good to know my beetles are good. It’s crazy I heard they go in woods that have had fires we didn’t have any fires but they had been cutting down all the dead trees so I’m thinking that’s why suddenly they were everywhere!!

 

[Scott C.]

Lol why hold the velvet ant?
We get those around these parts. Supposed to be quite the sting
Looks like a great trip with the kiddos =)

 

[drurymercy]

Hahahaha I have this problem where I get real excited and don’t think when I see cool things I’ve even jumped out of a moving car over a bunny and a deer. I never grew out of that childlike joy! I know my brother keeps warning me about the sting!!! If I want to see any insects I need to get out of the city it must be nice getting to see them all around in ur area!