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
Meat ant The meat ant was first described in 1858 by British entomologist Frederick Smith in his "Catalogue of Hymenopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum part VI", under the binomial name "Formica purpurea" from a holotype worker ant he collected in Melbourne, Victoria. The type material is currently housed in the Natural History Museum, London. In 1862, Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr erected the genus "Iridomyrmex", and reclassified the meat ant as a member of "Iridomyrmex" rather than the genus "Formica". The ant was named "Iridomyrmex purpurea" in 1862. Mayr renamed the ant as "Iridomyrmex purpureus" one year after. "I.