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Velvet AntsScary Hissing Ant!
Last year, I ran across a very strange bug. It looked like a giant fuzzy ant with orange and black stripes and it made a strange hissing noise when I bothered it. Naturally, I backed off! You never know which bugs could bite!
Kasey White
Bloom of the Moon
Hi Kasey,
It is well that you backed off. This is a Velvet Ant, a flightless female wasp that is commonly called a Cow Killer, and she stings like the dickens. Eric Eaton add: “Velvet ants can ‘squeak’ by rapidly rubbing their abdominal segments against one another, which might account for the “hissing” sound the submitter mentioned. Between the warning colors and the noise, you’d be foolish to pick one up”
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