Red velvet ants are wasps
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service — Galveston County Office
July 27, 2011
Red velvet ants are aptly named for their distinctive coloration but these insects are wasps, not ants. Pictured is a male red vel- vet ant. Females have similar coloration but lack wings.
PHOTO BY Dr. William M. Johnson
Q: I found a large and trast, males have wings and bees, digging down to the Dr. William Johnson is a brightly colored insect roving are rarely seen. nesting chambers and chew- horticulturist with the through the leaf litter in one ing a hole through the cocoon. Galveston County Office of my landscape beds. Can Red velvet ants are also of Texas A&M AgriLife you help identify it? known as cow killers in refer- She deposits an egg on the Extension Service. Visit ence to the painful sting these host larva, which soon his website at A: One of my Master Gar- insects can inflict to man and hatches into a white, legless http://aggie- dener volunteers brought in animals, although it is very grub. horticulture.tamu.edu/ such a specimen last week doubtful many cows actually galveston. and was curious if it was a are stung. The immature velvet ant larva type of ant. feeds on the larva of a ground News column printed in I strongly recommend not -nesting bee, developing the Galveston Daily Despite its common name of going barefoot in areas where through several larval stages News, The Post, and red velvet ant, it actually is a this insect is spotted. before forming a pupa. other Galveston County type of wasp. Newspapers. While females can pack a Q: One of my trees was re- Adult red velvet ants average powerful sting, they are not cently struck by lightning. Is 1/2 to 3/4 an inch in length. aggressive. They tend to there anything I can do to Males and females are jet move quickly away when save the tree or is likely to black with distinctive patches exposed. Males do not sting. die? of dense orange-red hair on the thorax and abdomen. Red velvet ants are beneficial A: A lightning strike to a tree insects. Females seek the im- in the home landscape is a Females are wingless and are mature stages of bumblebees traumatic experience for both more commonly seen. In con- and other ground-nesting the tree and its caretaker. Page 2 Red velvet ants are wasps
After checking to see if one’s own species, like sycamores, likely are tar- moval is the best option. limbs are intact, attention quickly gets because they tend to tower over shifts to the welfare of the tree. other species. My experience has been that a lightning strike does not automatically spell doom The morning after an electrical storm, Pines and hemlocks might be lightning- to a tree, and many such trees are able to local extension offices often field prone because of the water that collects make a remarkable recovery given ade- questions from concerned homeown- on their needles during thunderstorms. quate care and time. ers regarding the prognosis for be- loved trees and what care might be Human nature causes people to develop given to help them survive or recover. strong attachments to trees. It is natural, therefore, to want to take immediate Unfortunately, and quite accurately for action to help an urban friend survive in the concerned tree steward, the best the aftermath of a lightning strike. answer to these urgent questions often is “time will tell.” In most cases, however, there is little that can be done to help a tree recover. A lightning strike can affect a tree in many ways. Some are immediately Should one apply any of the various obvious and some are not. Sometimes wound dressing concoctions commonly the trunk and/or large branches are used? splintered. While most wound dressing concoc- In many cases, the apparent damage tions do no harm to the tree, many might appear minimal while internal dressings develop cracks in time that injury to the vascular tissues of the can harbor insects or hold water that trunk and roots is extensive and gradu- lead to decay. ally manifests itself during a period of months or even years. Applying a wound dressing might make the caretaker performing the operation In some cases, the majority of the feel better, but it is not recommended. damage occurs to the main roots of a tree as the electrical discharge (up to If the lightning damage has created 100 million volts at thousands of am- hazardous broken branches, these peres) vaporizes the water inside the should be taken care of quickly. roots, creating superheated steam. However, in most cases, it is best to It is difficult to predict which trees wait six months before doing major will be struck by lightning and which (expensive) corrective work. are most likely to be seriously injured. If, during this waiting period, the tree In general, lone trees, those tallest in a shows no obvious signs of decline, then group or those growing in moist soil it might be worth the expense to do have the highest probability of being major corrective pruning. struck. In the meantime, watering during In the considerable body of lightning drought conditions and fertilizing with lore, certain tree species commonly a moderate rate of nitrogen might help are listed as more lightning-attractive the tree produce callus tissue to com- than others. partmentalize wounds.
These include maple, ash, tulip tree, In many cases, it will become obvious sycamore, poplar, oak, elm, pine, at some point during the waiting period spruce and hemlock. Some of these that the tree will not recover and re-