Adult female Brazilian velvet ant (Traumatomutilla bifurca) shows off her superblack patches. ... [+] (Credit: copyright: Nicole Desnoyers. Image appears here with kind permission.) An ...

A velvet ant bite like “hot oil from the deep fryer” delivers an array of peptides that inflicts pain on insects and mammals alike.

Despite their name and looks, velvet ants are actually wasps. Many of these delightfully fuzzy insects exhibit bright, contrasting shades of black with red, orange or white. Their bold bodies serve as ...

Crawling along the underbrush of the tropical savannas of Brazil, there’s a powerful and mysterious insect known as the velvet ant. Actually a kind of wasp, wingless females of this species ...

Ants may seem harmless, but some species pose serious threats due to their venom, aggressive behavior, or destructive habits.

BRASILIA, Brazil – A new study has revealed the complex makeup of an ant found in South America that can absorb nearly all visible light. Researchers analyzed the velvet ant’s exoskeleton and ...

The ants are a significant threat to the island’s endemic population of red crabs, displacing the ... including the velvet ant, which is actually a hairy, wingless wasp.

The first thing to understand about velvet ants is that they are not, in fact, ants. They're wasps, some of which are wingless, and are named in part for their fluffy exteriors. About the size of ...