He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alabama and his Ph.D. Whit Gibbons, professor emeritus of ecology, University of Georgia, grew up in Tuscaloosa. Only male velvet ants have wings and, of course, male wasps and bees don’t sting. We looked it over for a minute or so, marveling at such an elegant insect, and then let it fly away. Painful, yes, but with one consolation: The searing pain lasts only about a minute and then subsides with no swelling or other evidence of a sting.Īnd what was the gratifying experience I later had with a velvet ant? Trip and I were standing beside a bush when a velvet ant with black wings landed right in front of us. I ignored the velvet ant’s buzzing warning and underestimated the length of the half-inch long black stinger that went right into my thumb. Trip and the others watched me pin down a large velvet ant with a match stick. My error was in showing a group of students how impressively long a velvet ant stinger is. Upon being tested later, the toad ate mealworms but would have nothing to do with a proffered velvet ant.Īlthough not part of the study on predator responses to velvet ants, I can confirm that their sting will ensure that you are cautious with the next one you find. The single victim was one eaten by a large toad that became ill for a day. Three others were eaten and regurgitated unharmed. The investigators in the study found that the defense system of the velvet ant is so effective that despite 100 interactions with bluebirds, mockingbirds, toads, lizards, shrews and other predators, only one velvet ant was consumed and digested. According to a study conducted on the human pain index relative to other types, a velvet ant’s sting came in fourth out of 62 species of wasps and bees, with 58 being judged to be less painful. One study showed that it took 11 times more pressure to crush a velvet ant than a honeybee.Īny predator that hasn’t taken the hint by now must deal with the stinger. The velvet ant’s body is extraordinarily strong, like Iron Man of the insect world. When threatened, the velvet ant makes a buzzing sound from its abdomen and releases an alarm chemical from glands in the mouth area. Any distinctively colored insect walking around completely exposed during the day typically has an arsenal of some sort up its sleeve. For openers, velvet ants give fair warning that they are dangerous. Velvet ants have enormous stingers half their body length, and the research paper focused on the full defense system of these near-indestructible wasp parasites against a variety of terrestrial and avian predators, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. I distinctly remember the painful sting he was referring to in his email the other experience was more gratifying and made up for the unpleasant one. Trip and I experienced two memorable events involving velvet ants when we worked together at the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Lab several years ago. If you are familiar with the movie “Alien,” you know the rest. The velvet ant lays an egg in the nest, and a developing bee or wasp eats the egg and becomes parasitized internally. They walk around during the day in search of bees and wasps that nest in the ground. The large eastern variety, often called a “cow killer,” looks like an enormous, bright red ant. Tiny bristles cover the body, giving them a velvety appearance. They belong to a family of more than 3,000 wasps found worldwide. Gall of Hanover College in Indiana and several colleagues. The attachment was a scientific paper titled “The Indestructible Insect: Velvet Ants from Across the United States.” The authors were Brian G. Trip Lamb’s email said, “As a velvet ant sting survivor, you may appreciate the attached.” Trip is a biology professor at East Carolina University.
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