It's actually not even an ant, it's a wingless wasp known as the velvet cow killer. Apparently the females do not have wings, but can deliver a hell of a sting, whereas the males, which look quite different, can fly but have no stinger.
This gal was truckin' down my driveway today, I mean she was haulin ass. I had a heck of a time getting a pic that wasn't blurry as hell. She was big, well over an inch long, and such a bright red and definitely velvety looking.
These wasps burrow into the nests of ground dwelling bees and lay their eggs on the larve inside. Once they hatch, they eat the larve and use their husks for their own cocoons. Pretty creepy but I am happy to devote my yellow jacket population to science, so have at 'em!
Haha, I knew this thread would be about one of these!
I can tell you it berkeleying HUUUUUURTS getting nailed by one...and no...I wasn’t berkeleying with it. :/
Also: Try stomping on one some time. I swear they have tiny middle fingers they throw up at you.
Real pretty and that coloring shouts "Don't mess with me" to birds and stuff, I guess. Cool that they go for yellow jackets. We have them around here.
This is the only other halfway decent shot I got of her. And yes, that red definitely said "don't mess with me mojo, I will berkeley you up." Glad I listened to my gut on this one, especially after watching the video.
I took this today, an acquaintance claimed to have never seen one before, and was skeptical if we had them here, hence the photo.
SVreX
MegaDork
8/21/18 7:00 p.m.
Poopie’s right- there is a very good reason those things are called “Cow killers”
Urghh....
SO glad I live in Canada....
In reply to Trans_Maro :
Yeah, but everything must be so sticky up there with all the maple syrup everywhere. 
I was just at the natural history museum with my kid last weekend and one of the things I read that I didn't remember reading before was that wasps are relatively recent only popping up about 200 million years ago. There is an astonishing number of wasps out there and only small number of them are real jerks.
One reason I live in Ohio. Cold weather limits the creepy crawly things.
I was once laying under a car. I looked at my feet just in time to see one of these crawl into the laces on my sneakers. I’ve never kicked off a shoe so fast in my life.
My dad got stung by one. Whole foot swelled up like crazy.
Trans_Maro said:
Urghh....
SO glad I live in Canada....
Nothing bad involving wildlife ever happens in Canada.
"All hail our new Red and Black overlords." -UTexas sports fans
Ed Higginbotham said:
I was once laying under a car. I looked at my feet just in time to see one of these crawl into the laces on my sneakers. I’ve never kicked off a shoe so fast in my life.
My dad got stung by one. Whole foot swelled up like crazy.
I got stung while washing the car. I had just called Mommy & kid down to come check out the cool velvet ant. I thought it had gone on it’s merry way till I felt what I thought was a cigarette cherry dropped in my shoe.
I give bugs a chance. Don't bother me, I don't bother you. Sting me or annoy me to no end, then I bring hell. Scorched earth.
In reply to poopshovel again :
Super accurate .They usually dont even notice when they get stomped on. They just run away.
Thank you for reaffirming my decision to live in the land of rusty cars and crappy weather.
759NRNG
SuperDork
8/22/18 11:38 a.m.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
I was just at the natural history museum with my kid last weekend and one of the things I read that I didn't remember reading before was that wasps are relatively recent only popping up about 200 million years ago. There is an astonishing number of wasps out there and only small number of them are real jerks.
'cept the jerks(politses carolina) seem to think where I live is their 'sanctuary' .......Bengal is my best buddy
I read this thread, and then a couple hours later I heard a small airplane fly into my living room.
3 hours, the sleepkids shut up with sleepymom the whole time, and without the aid of any of the "normal" bug "control devices", or the alternate ones, or any of the other ones mazdeuce dreamed up in a chat session, and I can finally go to bed (it's now past midnight for me here)
I'm going to avoid reading "bug threads" on the forum for a couple months, I think
In reply to sleepyhead :
I gotta know, did you use the grape as a projectile to knock it out of the sky or what? 
Of note: Wasps eat yellow jackets...
...pick your poison.
Mndsm
MegaDork
8/22/18 6:03 p.m.
That's a whole lot of velvety ass for her to haul.
In reply to EastCoastMojo :
no, I used a stuffed compression sack that's about 10" long and 4" in diameter and full of some jacket or clothes to down it from the curtains. Tried multiple times with 6" kids soccer ball without success.
Not a Wasp. European Hornet. Probably still benign... but I did give it 3hours to leave. Have two sleepykids under 5 in the house means I can't "just leave it alone" if it's inside. And leaving the doors open overnight really isn't an option for us.
