I was in the backyard picking up some of the kid's toys during their nap when I saw a very large red and black bug walking in the grass. I got a little closer to it and it looked like a spider or ant but with red and black fur on it. I had never seen anything like it. Fortunately the kids have been catching bugs lately so I had a butterfly net nearby and grabbed it. I went for the bug and put the net over it. Quite honestly, I had way too much net for a bug that was about a half inch or so long. I got the thing to go into the net but then I needed something to put it in. The kids have bug jars, so I called into Rachael to grab one for me and bring it out. The kids were taking a nap, so I could not enlist their help. Rachael came out quick, but by the time she got outside, the bug had climbed out of the net and fallen next to the house. It ran quickly for the house and before I could maneuver the big butterfly net, it ran up under the hardiplank siding....and was gone.
I was really bummed. More than I should have been considering my general aversion to all things "buggy." Rachael only saw the bug for a second, but we both agreed that it was very cool...well, maybe not cool, but definitely different and Drake would love to have seen it. The only thing was, we had no idea what we had just seen. It was big like a spider but really looked and moved a lot more like an ant. Only it was so big and the black and red fur only made it more confusing. We decided to look it up on Wikipedia and sure enough there it was...a velvet ant.
I had never heard of this thing before. It has the nickname "the cow killer" because the sting from this critter is so painful. It looked menacing when I was chasing it, but I had no idea it could inflict that much damage. Now I was really upset that it had gotten away. Evidently they are not commonly seen, due to spending most of their time being nocturnal. However, I had seen one and almost caught it...almost.
I went out to start mowing the lawn and thought I will look one last time. I went to the spot where it crawled up under the siding but I didn't see a thing. I decided to look around the side of the house and as soon as I walked around the corner, there it was - racing along the outside of the foundation by the fireplace. I darted back into the house yelled to Rachael to come back outside because "it is on" again and grabbed the bug jar on my way back out. I rounded the corner with just enough time to get the jar over the velvet ant before it got to the end of the fireplace. I used a little finesse to get the lid on and voila...I caught a bug.
It was very exciting and it actually turns out that the velvet ant is not an ant at all but is a female wingless wasp. She does have a very wicked sting but she has never been known to actually kill a cow. The kids finally woke up from their nap and were all in awe at the big furry ant. Normally, we follow "catch and release" rules at our house but given the potentially painful sting of this little fuzzy lady, I think we will let her expire in the jar and then move to the "release" portion of the program. Not the most humane solution, but I have four kids and two cats..."humanity" is not what keeps me up at night...I think the correct term is "insanity."
