'A Strange Little Bug'

Picture this.

Staff at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Equine Health encountered "a strange little bug" that they'd never seen before outside their office Friday on Old Davis Road.

Barbara Meierhenry, senior editor at the Center for Equine Health, described it as "a strange little bug...It was about an inch long, with two rounded body sections covered with 'blond' fuzz, and six legs. He was actually very cute.  We have never seen a bug like this before."

She emailed us two cell-phone images taken by Equine Control Officer Laurie Christison.

Enter UC Davis bug experts. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, quickly identified it as a "female velvet ant (family Mutillidae)."

Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology, added: "The photo is of a female velvet ant, genus Dasymutilla, family Mutillidae. The females are wingless and parasitize ground-nesting bees.  The males are winged.  These ants are not commonly seen.  They're usually associated with sandy soil, and are mostly active on cloudy days or at night.  Males squeak when handled, females have powerful stings, so it's not a good idea to try to handle them."

Meierhenry speculates the velvet ant "may have come here on a hay truck as we had a delivery of hay on Friday.  In the years we have both worked here, we have never seen such a creature."

As a side note,  renowned insect photographer and ant specialist Alex Wild, based in Illinois, posted a Mutillidae family member on his popular Monday night insect quiz last February.  He titled it "What's That Fuzz?" The responders got the genus right: Dasymutilla, but differed somewhat on the species.

For another amazing photo of Dasymutilla, check out Alex Wild's Dasymutilla gloriosa, aka Thistledown Velvet Ant. Talk about a good hair day!

By the way, Wild, who received his doctorate in entomology at UC Davis in 2005, studying with major professor Phil Ward, will return to UC Davis this week to speak on insect photography. His talk is Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. Professor James R. Carey plans to webcast the seminar and post it on UCTV.

It's a good week for bugs!