Hymenoptera, curated
A selection of Hymenoptera from a museum collection, preserved for scientific study.
Pseudomethoca frigida
Mutillidae. Urbana, Illinois, USA
Mutillidae
Regional velvet ant faunas often converge on common color patterns shared among local species. The two-spotted abdomen is typical in parts of South America. Mindo, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Dasymutilla sp.
A female velvet ant showing the black/red coloration typical of many species in Texas. Velvet ant species often converge on similar regional color patterns. Elgin, Texas, USA.
Dasymutilla occidentalis
Dasymutilla occidentalis - red velvet ant. This insect is not a true ant but a wingless wasp that parasitizes other species of soil-nesting wasps. The bright color advertises a famously painful sting. Sand Ridge State Forest, Illinois, USA
A velvet ant (Mutillidae) is not an ant but a wingless wasp. Most species are parasites of ground-nesting bees. Monte Verde, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Dasymutilla gloriosa
The thistledown velvet ant mimics the fluffy seeds of desert creosote bushes. Running across the sand, the insect appears much like a seed blowing through the desert. California, USA.
Sapyga louisi
Sapygid wasps are kleptoparasites of solitary bee nests. They are not usually abundant, but can sometimes be found drinking nectar from flowers. Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
Myrmosula sp.
Myrmosula sp. (Myrmosidae). Sagehen Creek Field Station, California, USA
Chyphotes sp.
Nevada, USA
Chyphotes
Chyphotes is a wingless nocturnal wasp often mistaken for a velvet ant. In fact, this rare insect belongs to its own group of wasps (Chyphotidae). California, USA
Anoplius
This female blue-black spider wasp has paralyzed a spider and is dragging it back to her burrow. Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA.
Hemipepsis ustulata
Portrait of a tarantula hawk wasp. Anza Borrego, California, USA.
Pepsis menechma
Males of the Elegant Tarantula-hawk Wasp have unusual, distinctly yellow antennae. Austin, Texas, USA.
Ageniella accepta
This small spider wasp (Pompilidae: Ageniella accepta) has removed the legs from a spider she has paralyzed so as to ease its transport. Austin, Texas, USA.
Pompilidae
Spiders with long legs can be awkward to carry, so some spider wasps pull the legs off their paralyzed (but still living!) prey. Mindo, Pichincha, Ecuador.
A spider wasp cleans her legs by passing them through brushes in her mouthparts. Austin, Texas, USA.
