Bug card No. 1131 of 1,500

Red velvet ant

Dasymutilla occidentalis

Eats: It lives off other animals Wasps and hornetsGardens and meadows6 legs

The red velvet ant is fuzzy, bright red and black, and looks like a big hairy ant. But it is really a wasp. The females have no wings and run around fast on the ground.

Lives in

The eastern United States, mostly seen in summer

Length

1.9 cm (0.75 in)

Top speed

about 24 km/h (15 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?

Its larva lives on the babies of other wasps. The mother sneaks into another wasp's nest and lays an egg on a baby wasp, and her own grub eats it.

Photo of Red velvet ant — Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 16 secondsmoves 350 times its own body length every second

How big is Red velvet ant compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Red velvet ant about 24 km/h (15 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

It can squeak. It rubs parts of its body together to make the sound and scare enemies away.

you asked

Most asked questions about Red velvet ant

?Is a red velvet ant really an ant?

No. It is a wasp. The females have no wings, so they look like big fuzzy ants.

?How big is a red velvet ant?

It is about 19 millimetres long, the biggest velvet ant in the eastern United States.

Myth buster

Myth: A velvet ant is an ant.

Truth: No. It is a wasp. The females have no wings, so people mix them up with ants.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Dasymutilla occidentalis
Group: Wasps and hornets
Family: Mutillidae
Classification: Insecta > Hymenoptera > Mutillidae
Lives on: North America
Also known as: Eastern velvet ant, Cow ant, Cow killer

Where the facts come from

Dasymutilla occidentalis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.