The eastern velvet ant

This insect is not an ant, although it is always referred to as an ant. It looks like a large red and black hairy ant, but is really a wingless female wasp. It is a very nervous insect as it hurries across the ground aimlessly, never seeming to stop. This makes the eastern velvet ant a very hard subject to photograph clearly.

The velvet ant can deliver a painful sting, which has earned it the name "cow killer," even though no cow has ever been documented to have been killed by this wasp.

Nectar from flowers is the preferred food of adult velvet ants. The female has a hairy wingless body and looks and moves like an ant. The female seeks out a bumble bee or yellow jacket nest in which to enter and lay her eggs. Once the babies hatch, they eat the larvae of the bees or ground dwelling paper wasps.

The male of this species of wasp has wings, can fly, looks nothing like the female and is usually active at night.

The eastern velvet ant lives in the forests, fields, yards and gardens of eastern North America. Numerous other kinds of velvet ants live mostly in dry, sandy parts of the American west.

Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by Aaron at The Painted Wren Gallery.