velvet ant pic

[Scythemantis]

They're solitary wasps with wingless females

 

[Pulk]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pulk/2484791447/ (has sound)

 

[bhoeschcod]

Those things are so cool. I caught one last year and tried to keep it. I was unsuccessful, it never ate the honey water i was offering or the half grape, eventually dying. I think she was fertilized and wanted only to find a place to lay eggs.

Have you heard it stridulate yet?

This is her. I guess this is a pretty large species, more than 1" body length. These are found in MD.

Image the stinger on that!

 

[beetleman]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pulk/2484791447/ (has sound)

hee hee that 1 looks like a chiuauha experiment gone wrong,man i love velvet ants,awesome little devils:clap:

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Those things are crazy looking man! Ants, wasps... either or whatever they are I don't think I'll be touching them anytime soon!

-Ian
www.theroachranch.com

 

[bhoeschcod]

Wasps for sure the males have wings right?

 

[Widowman10]

Wasps for sure the males have wings right?

yep. kinda tricky to find, but it can be done i try to find a couple every year.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Found this one in Costa Rica(carribean side). sorry for the quality...

 

[Pulk]

 

[Widowman10]

nice shots of the males pulk. did you find their female counterparts?

and has anyone ever tried to breed these? i have heard/read that they can be extremely difficult to breed and are host-specific for larvae. i think it would be more work than worth if possible.

 

[skippy]

i read that the sexual dimorphism is so extreme in many species that it is impossible to tell if the specimens are compatible unless they are found mid-coitus

my feeling is that this would make breeding somewhat problematic:}

 

[Galapoheros]

hee hee that 1 looks like a chiuauha experiment gone wrong,man i love velvet ants,awesome little devils:clap:

It was about as noisy as a chihuahua too, haha. That thing was non-stop bug barking. That's a cool weird looking black and white one. Nice shots Pulk. ...parasitic, ..criminals of the wasp world.

 

[Pulk]

nice shots of the males pulk. did you find their female counterparts?

no, I didn't.

 

[Widowman10]

oh, that would have made for a cool shot

well, if you live where i do, it's easy to find the female counterparts because there is only 1 species. narrows the options down a bit but i also have heard that sexual dimorphism is pretty crazy and varies among males.