Anyone have experience or close encounters with "cow killing ants" ?

[BeeGhost]

Just watched a small clip of a bee taking on a cow killing ant and was amazed at the size difference! So I did some research and found that the stinger is HUGE!! Anyone ever have a run in with these nasty looking creatures!! And will they go into a colony of bees??

I dont have to worry about them, but curious non-the-less!!

[TokerM]

Is that like a fire ant? I had a bad run-in with those once.... Bad!

[BeeGhost]

They look a lot bigger than a fire ant and have a fuzzy body. Ive never had to deal with fire ants, thank God, seen enough documentaries and posts to avoid their areas all together!!LOL

You ever get stung/bit by a fire ant Toker??

[TokerM]

About 1,000 hits on my arm at once... USMC, we were out training, I hit the ground to "return fire" (training,) and didn't realize my left elbow went right in the middle of a nest.

I declared myself dead and got the heck out of there....

[John R C]

The cow killers are called"ant lions" and I want to say mabel they are a flightless wasp? They do have a huge stinger. Just pick one up with a pair of tweezers and you'll see. They are the adult form of the little doodle bugs that build an inverted dirt cone to trap ants and other insects.

[BeeGhost]

Toker- 1,000 hits.................ouch!! That is nuts!!

John- I didnt know they were the ant lions that mae the funnel traps in the dirt! I still play with those when I see them, poke a stick in them and even drop an ant or two in them as well!! And to think of it now, ive seen those fuzzy ants walking around every now and then at the old house!!

[JRG13]

John, not quite right. Ant lions belong in the order neuroptera. The adualts look like a beefy damsel fly. Cow Killers belong to the velvet ant family and yes, they're a flightless wasp. Typically I believe their parasitic on other wasps and solitary bees.

[Scrapfe]

Two 11 year old boys came to the ER reciently. Like two banty roosters they wanted to see who was the better man. They poked their fore arms elbo deep into a fire ant mound to see which one the fire ants would make cry uncle first. One of them lost and both of them were glad when he did.

[lazy shooter]

We have both fire ants and cow killer ants. We usually refer to cow killer ants as velvet ants, due to the short fuzzy hairs on them. I don't think velvet ants will bother bees. I have never heard of them being a nuisance about anything. A friend of mine stepped on one on my porch a few years back, and it really lit him up. There was almost no swelling, but my pal said it was very painful. They're good guys, don't worry about them.

[robo mantis]

I have messed with a few in the past when i was learning how to keep ants. I caught one, I'm just glad i didn't get stung. Yes as JR said, they are a species of flightless wasps. Ant lions are a completely different thing. Ant lions as adults look like dragon flies and or damsel flies.