VERIFY: This ‘mystery’ bug is a velvet ant…and it’s not an ant at all A WFMY viewer asked us to VERIFY the identity of this ant-like bug. Turns out, it’s a wasp dubbed the ‘cow killer.’ ...

The Cow Killer Ant is also known as Velvet Ant or Red Wasp. While called "ant," it is actually a wingless female wasp that can inflict a painful sting. The male wasp does have the advantage of flight.

If you see a velvet ant with wings, rest assured, it is a male. Although capable of flight, males are incapable of stinging, as they lack stingers.

The velvet ant’s body is extraordinarily strong, the "Iron Man" of the insect world. One study showed that it took 11 times more pressure to crush a velvet ant than a honeybee.

This makes the eastern velvet ant a very hard subject to photograph c... 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, ...

A picture of the massive sting left by the "cow killer" velvet ant on Eric Breuer's leg in July 2020. "It felt like someone burning me with a cigarette on my inner right thigh," he ...