What is this? - Page 1

We have......or had.... two of these living in the ground beside our porch.  There is one that flies, the other I didn't see wings on.  It is the fuzzy texture of a bee, but with black and red coloring.  Anyone know what it is? They went in the ground at times, you'll see where in the first picture. If you look towards where the concrete hits touches the ground, above the bug, but slightly to the right.  That's actually where it was going down into the ground. I would say wasp, but the one in this picture has no wings...and it's going in the ground.  Not to mention the texture is more fuzzy like a bee......The other one had wings, my guess some kind of queen?  I stomped her today before she could fly away. I didn't want these guys multiplying. It reminds me of some kind of giant ant in a way. Any ideas?

I think it looks like a flaming red velvet wasp (mistakenly called ant) . Dasymutilla occidentalis also known as Cow Killer.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/category/hornets-and-wasps/

how creapy...but pretty..LOL

Red touch yellow, kills a fellow. Red touch black, friend of Jack. 

Thanks for the link.  I looked at it, and googled the name of what type of bug that was......another site had a little bit of info about it as well.  Something I read on the site you linked talked about the female laying eggs....The one without wings looked like it was trying to put something into the ground, eggs are my guyss.....Well, I haven't killed the female, apparently I only killed the male today since I killed the one with wings.  I just haven't seen the one without wings out today.



These colorful, fuzzy Red Velvet Ants (Dasymutilla aureola pacifica) aren't really ants at all - they're wasps! The females lack wings which makes them resemble ants... definitely had me fooled.

Their name "velvet ant" does refer to the wasp's dense hair which comes in a variety of colors, including white, blue, gold, black, silver, and red as show in this subspecies. The vivid coloration serves as a warning to other animals that these wasps aren't exactly friendly.

... and the name Cow Killer comes from when the pain-crazed cow that was stung runs around, and ends up breaking a leg.