Thistledown Velvet Ant (I think)

MikeBinOKlahoma · Post by **MikeBinOKlahoma** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 11:45 am

While I was out photographing lizards in Joshua Tree National Park about six weeks ago, I saw a little ball of cotton start moving around on the ground near my feet. I looked, and saw what seemed like a ball of dirty cotton, but with legs sticking out! It was trundling around energetically.

I was armed with my 300/4 IS and flash, not the most convenient macro setup for a moving target, especially after I screwed a 500D diopter on the front to get a decent image size. Photographing shooting straight down with this lengthy setup (camera, teleconverter and lens must be 18 inches long, and it needs about 18 inches minimum focal distance) and trying to shoot a moving target was NOT easy! In addition to getting the moving image in the viewfinder, I had DOF problems (as you can see).

I did get one decent image before the critter crawled off into brush. I was totally mystified at the time what she was. I briefly considered picking her up and dropping her back in a clear area for more shots, but decided it wasn't the right thing to do.

It wasn't till I looked at the shots on my laptop that night that it hit me I'd probably saved myself from a very nasty experience with my scruples! The appearance of this critter is very much like the velvent ants I've tried to photograph (with limited success because they do tend to move like crazy, just as this critter did). I'm guessing that this is a velvet ant that evolved by discarding the bright red warning color of more temperate cousins in favor of camoflage....Perhaps the desert predators aren't disturbed by the sting somehow, and viewed the red color as an invitation rather than a warning?

Digging around when I got home has revealed a probable species name for this gal. They look for sand waspe burrows filled with wasp larvae and with victims killed by the mother for the wasp larvae to eat, and they kill the wasp larvae, and put their own eggs in the nest! Rather creepy way to make a living. The females look a lot like creosote seeds, and share their range with that plant. The males are orange and black like traditional velvet ants.

Thistledown Velvet Ant <?>
Dasymutilla gloriosa
300/4 IS with 2x teleconverter and 500D closeup diopter
1/250th second @ f/25
ISO 100
handheld with flash

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:44 pm

Cool

Looks to me like you nailed this one -- both the photo and the ID. Great job under difficult circumstances!

--Rik

S. Alden · Post by **S. Alden** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:46 pm

This is so cute. It might not be something one should pick up, but it sure is cute enough to pet.

MikeBinOKlahoma · Post by **MikeBinOKlahoma** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:54 pm

S. Alden wrote:This is so cute. It might not be something one should pick up, but it sure is cute enough to pet.

It's funny--I also felt with the cotton ball-look of the thing it had a sort of Care Bears fuzzy soft appearance!

I found a shot of the thistle seeds this critter mimics here:

http://www.clunet.edu/wf/des/flowers/fwr-14.htm

MikeBinOKlahoma · Post by **MikeBinOKlahoma** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:57 pm

rjlittlefield wrote: Looks to me like you nailed this one -- both the photo and the ID. Great job under difficult circumstances!

Thank you! I'd never heard of this variety of velvet ant beforehand, and was totally mystified when I shot it--Half the reason I wanted a good shot was so that I could figure out what it was!

If I had this to do over again, I'd have either backed up to the long-range limit of the 500D Diopter, or else not used it at all. I'd have a smaller subject size, but you could see the legs and environment better. I was fairly quick at screwing my closeup diopter on, but still had only 30 or 40 seconds photographing this thing before it was lost in the underbrush. Since flash recycling time made me sit on my hands for awhile between each shot, I'm glad I got even one tolerable one.

twebster · Post by **twebster** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 6:57 pm

Hi ya' Mike

You know velvet ants, aka cowkillers, are not really ants and they don't kill cows, either. They do pack one heck of a sting, though

I had the unique experience of having one of the black and red variety sting me and it sure hurt. Velvet ants are really wasps in the family Mutillidae. The females are wingless.

Your wee beastie here is probably Dasymutilla gloriosa. Was there a lot of creosote bushes around where you found him? Many researchers feel the white hairs developed in order to mimic the seeds of creosote, Larea tridentata. Nice image, Mike.

Best regards as always,

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 3:36 am

Have never seen one of these Mike, however I have seen the usual red velvet ant around here once in a while. I did not know they were wasps either, thanks Tom, but I heard that they do sting. I wonder about the cowkiller thing though. Where did that originate and why?

A nice shot though Mike, thanks for showing us.

GreenLarry · Post by **GreenLarry** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 11:22 am

Interesting, and amazing camouflage. Good job!