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About Heather
Expertise
I can answer questions ONLY on ant lions,(aka doodlebugs), butterflies, and certain other insects. NO BUG IDENTIFICATIONS, I will not answer any questions asking for bug IDs, NO home insect invasion questions please! If you ask anything about "What is this?!" and it doesn't pertain to butterflies or antlions then I CAN'T ANSWER!

Experience
Raising ant lions to adulthood.

Education/Credentials
None at all

You are here: Experts > Science > Insects/Spiders > Entomology (Study of Bugs) > Id type Ant

Entomology (Study of Bugs) - Id type Ant

Expert: Heather - 8/23/2008

Question
I live in south Alabama, we have an insect that looks like a large ant color red. The sting is very painful. We called it a cowkiller. I do not know any other name for it. Can you tell the name of it?

Answer
Cowkiller is a nickname for a Velvet Ant, which actually isn't an ant at all, but a type of wasp. They act like an ant more then a wasp, which accounts for the name.

Here is a very detailed page all about the velvet ant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_ant

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