This guy down the street told my children about a bug called a cattle killer that is supposed to be very lethal. Of course my children are intrigued and keep trying to find one. They did find a large ant thing that is red with fangs and a stinger. It has a tough outer shell that made it hard for them to kill it. It does look gross. I want to know if there is such a thing.

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), July 30, 2001

Answers

Book-

"The Audubon Society, Field Guide to NOrth American Insects and Spiders", picture 325, description page 818,

'Cow Killer - Dasmutilla occidentalis'

...They get their name from their painful sting - so sever that many people claim that if could kill a cow."

They live in medows, forests and clover. Eat bumble bee larva and drink nectar. Female lays 1 egg beside brood chamber of bumble bee. Adult cow killers can run fast and fight ferociously. They are 5/8' to 1' long, furry red (but I have seen black also) males have wings, females are wingless.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), July 30, 2001.

we have those here-and they are the kind of bug you see and turn the other direction from fast!

Haven't heard of any cows killed from one yet...but I am not willing to find out either!

Sarah

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), July 30, 2001.

Those kind of bugs can be dangerous even after it is dead. They have a telescopic stinger that when fully protruded is almost as long as the bug itself. And it still works even after a day or two of death. When I was a kid I stepped on one of those things while I was barefooted and thought I was going to die. I had a pain shoot all the way up into my upper leg. I don't know if it hit a nerve or what, but it was very painful.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), July 30, 2001.

Is this what we call a velvet ant? It's not an ant really but looks like one; about an inch or more long and really fuzzy?

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), July 30, 2001.

http://www.aqua.org/animals/species/venom/cowkiller.html

http://www.aqua.org/images/cowkiller.jpeg

-- somebody (something@somewhere.com), July 31, 2001.

yes Elizabeth

-- somebody (something@somewhere.com), July 31, 2001.