Dasymutilla occidentalis Dasymutilla occidentalis Dasymutilla occidentalis (red velvet ant or eastern velvet ant), is a species of parasitoid wasp native to the eastern United States. It is commonly mistaken for a member of the true ant family, as the female is wingless. The species ranges from Connecticut to Missouri in the north and Florida to Texas in the south. Other common names include cow ant and cow killer. The eastern velvet ant is the largest of the velvet ant species in the United States, attaining an approximate length of 0.75 in (1.9 cm). Adults display aposematic coloration, consisting of black overall coloring
Ant is used to trap their insect prey. Lemon ants make devil's gardens by killing surrounding plants with their stings and leaving a pure patch of lemon ant trees, ("Duroia hirsuta"). This modification of the forest provides the ants with more nesting sites inside the stems of the "Duroia" trees. Although some ants obtain nectar from flowers, pollination by ants is somewhat rare, one example being of the pollination of the orchid "Leporella fimbriata" which induces male "Myrmecia urens" to pseudocopulate with the flowers, transferring pollen in the process. One theory that has been proposed for the rarity of pollination is