A nasty Ant - "The Jack Jumper"

[Schmoe1]

Came into this thread expecting to say "Ha!  I've got a rival for you here in the US!

The Velvet Ant, aka Cow Killer:



But nevermind, as I read what your ants do, jump on you and attack, I admit defeat.  These velvet ants are generally hard-to-find ground dwelling wasps and not aggressive unless handled.

I saw something that looked like that once in NC. I was standing guard duty outside a bank, and saw a fuzzy red ant that looked like that, but the little bastard was about 2 inches long! I thought, "well that's the biggest damned ant I ever saw, and it's fuzzy and red to boot!" Never saw one like it before, or since, so I figured I should maybe quit drinking or something, as it seemed to be having permanent effects even when I was sober. Thank God I talked myself out of THAT!

.

Had a neighbor who served in Vietnam who'd occasional tell me a war story.  He talked about these centipedes they had, they'd toss grenades at them.  I thought that was a bit much until....



Yup, I don't blame him, I'd definitely shoot that thing.

Now I'm spooked.  I have the mini me version of those in the timber I cut.  Biggest would be about 8 inches that I've seen.  Once out in the open the native butcher birds and Kookaburras make short work of them and the wichetty grubs.

Cheers,

Bally

Same here, in Pennsylvania we have tiny versions of them, out west though they have the giant desert centipede, but it's still nothing like that.  Pretty much a walking set of venomous fangs lol