Date Posted:10:19:11 04/25/06 Tue Author:Beverly Subject: The Velvet Ant
Greetings, Cecil County Flora and Fauna correspondents. Have you ever had 'something different in the grass' catch your eye, as you were walking across your yard? Something with a colour that 'does not belong' registers quickly - and will often cause you to pause in your path.
A week ago, such a 'something' was a bright vermillion and black creature that attracted the attention of my Long Islander houseguest, Barbara. Barbara and Eric, friends from my former neighbourhood on Long Island, New York, came for a weekend visit, from the 28th to the 30th of July, 2005. Both are very involved in the flora and fauna of Long Island, and they make it their habit to explore the natural areas of places they visit, away from home, as well. Breakfast over, Eric was already in the woods here at the Elk River Retirement Ranch (and Raccoon Refuge ... lol!), exploring the creek bed, and Barbara and I had lagged behind, savoring a final cup of coffee. When we finished, Barbara went out, to join Eric. As she walked across an area of recent excavation, near my basement doors, she spotted a velevt ant, marching through the crab grass that has taken root and sprouted through the exposed clay. Calling to me to 'Come see this ...', I joined her, watching this 'new to me' critter.
We decided to delay the creature's arrival at its intended destination for just a short visit with us - but wisely decided against just putting our hand in its path, and allowing it to climb aboard (as is our habit, with praying mantis, and many other exoskeleton critters ...). I went into the basement, and brought out an empty, clean mayonaise jar. We used it to gather up the creature, and brought it into the house for further study. We pulled a bit of the crab grass to put into the jar with the 'ant', then capped the jar, and came back up to the kitchen. Worried that the critter might not get quite enough air, with the jar capped, I took a old pair of pantihose, cut the foot off the leg, and used it, with a rubberband to secure it, to replace the jar's lid. Worked very well - and gave us an added advantage, in studying this velvet ant.
Eric returned just about this time, and we called him to join us, and to confirm our identification. Eric informed us that although this insect is called a 'velvet ant', it is more closely related to the wasp family, and in fact, is a wasp and bee parasite. The female velvet ant does not have wings, and leads a solitary life, excepting during its mating with the winged male. Of the two, only the female stings - and according to happily second-hand reports, the sting is very painful, earning this creature the nickname of 'cowkiller' (the sting supposedly so painful, it can 'kill a cow'). Because we used the nylon pantihose for the 'lid', we were able to both see the female attempt to sting (by allowing her to climb on the pantihose, then 'tickling her belly' with a pencil), and to hear the annnoyed clicking sound she makes. The female grabbed the nylon with her pinchers, and curved her abdomen to expose her stinger. She was quite powerful, judging by her ability to pull the taughtly stretched nylon.
Finished our observation, we took her, jar and all, back out to the excavated area from whence we'd collected her, and carefully removed the nylon from the jar top, allowing the velvet ant to leave us. We did take a few photos of her, as she went on her way, happy to have had the chance to get a careful look, without a painful sting! Reading more about the velvet ant, I'm a bit sorry I didn't release her in my straw shed, as there's a paper wasp nest building up on one of the shed's interior roof joists ... hmmmm. On the other hand, the wasps don't seem to mind, when I come into the shed for a bale of straw. If I should grab a bale while the velvet ant was on it, and made contact, I might be able to give a first hand report on her sting! Might have indeed been best to leave her to find her own way around the property!
