Dasymutilla gloriosa

Thistledown Velvet Ant
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Suborder:	Apocrita
Superfamily:	Vespoidea
Family:	Mutillidae
Subfamily:	Sphaeropthalminae
Genus:	Dasymutilla
Species:	D. gloriosa
Binomial name
Dasymutilla gloriosa

The Thistledown Velvet Ant is a member of the genus Dasymutilla. Only females are wingless, as in other mutillids. Rather than having aposematic coloration like other mutillids, the females of this species are camouflaged by their resemblance to the fruit of Creosotebush, which occurs in the same habitats. It ranges from Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and south into Mexico.

References

• "Species Dasymutilla gloriosa". Retrieved 2008-09-13.
• Evans, Arthur V. (2007). Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. Sterling Publishing Co. p. 371. ISBN 978-1-4027-4153-1.
• "Thistledown Velvet Ants from Baja California, Mexico".