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| | Velvet Ant - Ephutomorpha
ferruginata
Family Mutillidae
- This page contains pictures and information about Velvet Ants that we
found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Wingless female, body length 12mm
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- Male and female of Velvet Ant look quite different. This winged male is black in
colour with white hairs on the head. The wingless female is dark reddish
brown in colour with patch pf white hairs on abdomen.
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 - Winged male, body length 15mm
Wingless female, body length 12mm
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Velvet Ants in copula
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- During mid-summer in Karawatha Forest, we saw this Velvet Ant
walking slowly on a sandy footpath, with abdomen tip pointing upward. After we took a few
pictures, a winged black wasp came and mated with the Velvet Ant.
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- We then recognized that the Velvet Ant is the wingless female, calling for a
male using pheromones. Notice the hairy abdomen tip that may help in releasing the
pheromones.
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- They are in mating position for about 20 seconds, then separated (in contrast
with the Blue Ants in family TIPHIIDAE). The winged wasp
rest 10 seconds on the floor then flied away. The Velvet Ant resumed it
abdomen pointing upward posture and slowly walked away.
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Notice the long ovipositor of the female in the above picture.
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- We seldom saw this Velvet Ant, but in the same day we saw a few of them
walking around in different locations in the Karawatha Forest. We believed this
time of the year could be their mating season.
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- Reference:
- 1. Wasp (Family Mutillidae) - Hymenoptera Photo Gallery, Australian Museum, 2003.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p295.
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