Today, we’re going to take a little bit of a different turn. Normally we discuss insects that are, overall, mostly harmless in small numbers. Instead, we’re going to discuss one of the true heavyweights of the insect world. Today, our subject is the Florida velvet ant.
Florida Velvet Ant: Overview
Velvet ants are active year-round, and you’ll see them in the summer, spring, fall, and winter. They’re active during the day and are some of the first insects you’ll see out foraging in the morning. They take breaks during the hottest parts of the day, retreating from high ground temperatures by burrowing under debris. You’ll also find the Florida velvet ant hanging onto plants to beat the heat.
These insects primarily feed on nectar. But they also have another name. Down south, or out west, you’ll find plenty of people who know them as a cow or mule killers. They earned this name from having an extremely painful sting. And, like any other species of wasp, they can sting multiple times. Oh yeah, despite the fact that they resemble ants, they’re wasps- not ants. They have an armor-like exoskeleton and combined with their painful sting, this leads them to have very few natural predators. Over a hundred and fifty species of the Florida velvet ant exists.
They can be found throughout the US, southern Canada, and Mexico. They are found in suburban and agricultural areas of South Florida. Velvet ants are solitary wasps, and only the females will be seen wandering about, while males can sometimes be spotted flying around.
The females are wingless and covered with patches of dense, brightly colored hair. This hair is often bright red, orange, brown, or white. Adults are sexually dimorphic, meaning that males are always winged but do not have a stinger, while females always lack wings but also possess a stinger. Their size tends to range from one-eighth of an inch to a full inch in length.
Florida Velvet Ant: Aggressive?
Despite their striking looks and ferocious reputation…these wasps are pretty mellow. Unlike other species of wasps, they do not create their own nests. Instead, these insects search out the ground nests of other insects and lay their eggs on the existing larvae of those same bugs. The egg develops, hatches, and then feeds off of their host. They then emerge as adults, and the cycle starts over again.
Because of this parasitic relationship, and the velvet ant wasp’s tendency to search out below ground hosts, they are of little concern to most homeowners. Their presence is rarely detected and, although the males can fly, the females are more often seen typically fleeing human contact. The majority of the life cycle of a velvet ant is spent underground developing parasitically.
Beyond that point, these non-colony wasps can be seen in open sandy or muddy areas, often searching for nectar. Velvet ant wasps are most commonly witnessed in the late summer months when it is hottest.
The Real Threat
And while the Florida velvet ant may not be much of a threat, that’s not the case for all ants. Fire ants are the true invasive menace that you should be worried about. Fire ants favor warm, sunny conditions. They prefer dry fields and avoid shady areas such as woods. Typical mounds can grow up to 61 cm in diameter and 18 cm high. These colonies can contain several hundred thousand ants, including at least one queen.
Red imported fire ants may also move into yards as a result of infested nursery plants or grass sod being used in the home’s landscaping. Since red ant colonies often grow large enough to extend across several properties, control and prevention can be challenging.
When attacking, fire ants first use their mandibles to grip their prey and then inject venom through a stinger. Fire ant stings are painful for most humans and fatal to some: if a victim experiences a severe reaction such as sweating, nausea, or excessive itching, emergency medical services should be contacted immediately. Their sting, which includes alkaloid venom, is highly irritating to humans and results in red bumps and white pustules, which can ultimately lead to scarring.
The Red Imported Fire Ant can have huge colonies with 300-500,000 workers foraging at distances of 100 yards. Fire ant activity ranges from the spring into fall months. During the spring and summer months, the active mounds send out winged swarmer ants whose sole job is to start new colonies. And be careful if you spot one of their mounds. Kicking or knocking over one accident can have you swarmed by hundreds, if not thousands, of these ants in under a minute. There are few pests that more aggressively attack humans.
What To Do?
Fire ants are difficult to control for several reasons: the colonies are often very large and extend under the ground a great distance. Colonies often have multiple queens, so they can recover if a part of the colony and a queen or two have been killed, and they often occur in large numbers, so that when you have eliminated one colony another will likely move in to occupy the space.
One common sign of fire ant activity is the worker and swarmer ants. Other signs can be their sandy earthen mounds, which are usually more visible after recent rainfall, or the complaints of customers who are being stung by ants.
Because fire ants can be sometimes a danger to humans and pets, it is a good idea to consult with professionals regarding ways to control them. When it’s established that you’re not dealing with the relatively harmless Florida velvet ant, and instead of the fire ant, it’s important to act fast. An infestation of these animals isn’t something that you can really do much about as a layman. It’s best to contact a pest control specialist at that point. Especially one that uses natural methods. For decades it’s been known that chemical pesticides are dangerous, so keep your family in mind when considering what kind of pest control to go with.
