Field Guide to Venomous and Medically Important Invertebrates ...

are their bodies are commonly distinguished with bright red or orange colored markings. Velvet
ants can inflict an excruciatingly painful sting if handled, but they are normally not aggressive.
Because of their size and potent sting, velvet ants are sometimes referred to as ―cow killers.‖
Figure 117. Velvet ant (Dasymutilla sp.). Photo: Scott Camazine.
Figure 118. Velvet ant (Dasymutilla sp.). Photo: Liberty Haven Ranch.
Figure 119. Thistledown velvet ant (Dasymutilla gloriosa). Photo: Steven J. Prchal.
Other wasps
Many other species of wasps from a variety of families are capable of stinging. However, the
stings from many of these non-aggressive species typically are only mildly painful (i.e., a
―pinprick‖) and are of little consequence, or the wasps tend not to sting. Perhaps most notably
among these are members of the family Sphecidae including the brightly colored muddaubers
(Sceliphron spp., Chalybron spp., Trypoxylon spp.) which construct variously shaped nests from
mud, and the large-bodied cicada killers (Sphecius spp.). The spider-hunting wasps (Family
Pompilidae, Pepsis spp.) are large (3 inches, 76 mm) and distinctly marked with orange-yellow
colored wings and iridescent purple-blue bodies. Spider-hunting wasps are distributed
worldwide, and like the ciacada killers and mud daubers, they are not aggressive and rarely
sting. However, their sting has been described as excruciatingly painful.
Figure 120. Black mud dauber (Chalybion caementarium). Photo: Pest Control Canada.
Figure 121. Cicada-killer (Sphecius speciosus), North America. Photo: David Bowles and
Mark Pomerinke.