Look! Down on the dirt…underneath the tangle of grass…it’s a flash of neon-fiery red with black markings…moving at what seems to be the speed of light! And it’s HISSING! We darn near break our necks running for the camera. No time to change the macro lens we’ve been using for product photos, or grab the tripod.

Like the Keystone Cops of silent film fame, we’re scrambling and tripping around the yard trying to keep up with the lightening moves of this very alien looking insect! It’s shaped like an ant but it’s HUGE…almost an inch long. We’re desperate for a photo to help us identify this creature.

It’s moving way too fast to get a clear shot, so we briefly discuss putting it in one of our hands to get a closer look at it. Ok…we know in the back of our minds that vivid colors in nature usually mean a very highly evolved defense mechanism…and then there’s the loud hissing to consider.

Thinking it wouldn’t be humane to over-stress the bug by picking it up, we cranked out as many photos as we could get until it crawled into the edge of the woods and disappeared.

What we didn’t know until after some research is that one of the names for this mysterious bug is “Cow Killer.” It is said that the sting from this insect is so painful that it could kill a cow! Wow…just how glad were we that we didn’t disturb this flashy little guy!

Further inquiries led us to the University of Kentucky Entomology website where we found it is also called the Velvet Ant and is actually a female wingless wasp rather than an ant. Their sting is infamous and there are countless online accounts of people’s curiosity getting them in big trouble with this beautiful insect! Only the females sting, and like all other wasps, they usually sting multiple times.

Look but don’t touch!

So……should you run across one of these venomous beauties, no matter how tempted you may be to get up close and personal with her…DON’T!

Happy Bug Watching!
The JP Crew