Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs InsectsAntlion (Heoclisis fundata) Alice Springs Ants (Formicidae) Alice Springs Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Butterflies & Moths (Lepidopterans) Alice Springs Diptera Alice Springs Dragonflies Alice Springs Orthoptera Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera) Alice Springs Wasps
This was originally thought to be a wingless female Greater Black Velvet Ant (Ephutomorpha formicaria), belonging to the family Mutillidae. The male of the species have wings. The current view is it belongs to the tribe Dasymutillini.
The Dasymutilla is a wasp genus that belong to the family Mutillidae.
The common name of “velvet ant” refers to their resemblance to an ant, and their dense pile of hair, which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold.
| There appears to be a consensus that the original post was incorrectly ID, and belongs to: Tribe Dasymutillini, a member of Velvet Ants Family Mutillidae. See iNaturalistAU observation: inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/193902948 |
This specimen was rescued from a swimming pool in Alice Springs. Once she came to, she was off… very quick mover.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Subclass: Pterygota
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Suborder: Apocrita
- Infraorder: Aculeata
- Superfamily: Pompiloidea
- Family: Mutillidae
- Subfamily: Sphaeropthalminae
- Tribe: Dasymutillini
- Genus: Dasymutilla
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Gavin Pitts for help with ID, member of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277/
- Tribe Dasymutillini, ausemade, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/193902948
- Ephutomorpha formicaria (Fabricius, 1775), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/0234457f-d497-4bd0-a5e9-ffdc9393b923
- Ephutomorpha formicaria, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/490817-Ephutomorpha-formicaria
Alice Springs InsectsAntlion (Heoclisis fundata) Alice Springs Ants (Formicidae) Alice Springs Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Butterflies & Moths (Lepidopterans) Alice Springs Diptera Alice Springs Dragonflies Alice Springs Orthoptera Alice Springs True Bugs (Heteroptera) Alice Springs Wasps
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