barito bajada
Velvet ant ("cow killer")Invertebrates

Velvet ant ("cow killer")

Dasymutilla spp.

Fuzzy red-and-black wingless wasp, not an ant, trundling across open ground by day. The nickname is for the sting, not the danger — it hurts a lot, harms little. Just step around it.

Key

Painful, not dangerous
Occasional — now and then
Barito Bajada — field notes from the desert