Black and Orange Fuzzy Butt Bug
November 13, 2009
I saw this bug today, while hiking at Lake Pleasant (Arizona), it was walking very quickly on the ground. I only had a chance to get one photo.
Hundewanderer
Lake Pleasant, Arizona
Velvet Ant
Hi Hundewanderer,
This is a Velvet Ant, a flightless female wasp in the genus Dasymutilla. We believe, based on the location and on photos posted to BugGuide, that this might be Dasymutilla magnifica.
I like This
Yeah, it’s A velvet ant. I saw one today while hiking in the Indian canyons in Palm Springs. I took some pics and it’s a cool bug.
Just saw the same in Tombstone, AZ…but different from what I had seen before as a velvet ant
According to BugGuide, there are 480 species of Velvet Ants in North America. There is also much visual diversity among them.
My family and I just saw one in Menifee, CA.
We also have then here in New Mexico. I spotted one at Truth and Consequence at Elephant Butte.
I found one in Smithville Missouri
I had one outside my house today. In Grand Junction Colo. Its not here any more I thought it was a baby tarantula OMG.
I found one in Kingman AZ this evening also thought at first glance it was a tarantula, that thing is sure fast we have had a lot of heavy rains lately wonder if reason why
We know rain is a stimulant to both Tarantula and Trapdoor Spider activity since that is when males travel in search of a mate. We don’t know if rain stimulates Velvet Ants in a similar manner.
found another one in Menifee, Ca.
Walking our dog in a sunny morning cemetery I spied a pale green fuzzy ant (?) a little less than
5/8 of an inch long, trucking along quite purposefully on the asphalt…It looked like a tiny toy, but no visible legs or eyes…I’ve seen other large “velvet ants” that were red and black, but never this lovely soft green…Sorry to have missed a chance for a photo…Can’t seem to find anything like it
on any of the bug websites…
We saw one at horseshoe bend in page arizona a few days ago.
I have some in my yard in perris california zip code 92570
We just saw a yellow velvet ant at Lyman Lake (northeast Arizona, Apache County).
Spotted another of the big fuzzy ants yesterday morning, same general
location, except it wasn’t a very pretty color, sort of faded, no-
color…Watched it awhile, to see if it had a mate or companion…
Fascinating little critter…