Texas Bee Watchers

Is a Cow Killer a bee, a wasp, or an ant?

I spoke to a wonderful group of people at the meeting of the Williamson County Native Plant Society last Thursday. I always learn a lot at these presentations from the questions people ask.

One question concerned wingless hymenopterans (bees, wasps, and ants). The question, in particular, concerned evolutionary aspects of Cow Killers. As commonly occurs, I had no idea.  So I’ve spent some time learning about Cow Killers in the last few days.

 So, why ask about them at a native bee talk?  Easy. 

 Turns out the females are parasitoid Wasps without wings who chew their way through the nests of ground-nesting solitary bees and bumble bees and lay their eggs in bee pupa growing in the nests. When the eggs of the Cow Killer wasps hatch, they eat the bee pupa. Yum.

Let’s get some of the biology facts down. First, Cow Killers are members of the Hymenoptera, but they are definitely NOT bees. They are not ants, either. They are actually predatory Wasps in the Mutillidae family.  Cow Killers (also known as Velvet Ants) are known by their scientific name, Dasymutilla occidentalis. There are other species of Dasymutilla found in Texas too. According to Texas A&M University Extension, Texas is also home to the Thistledown (or Gray Velvet) Ant. These little predatory wasps really do look like solitary bees!

The female Cow Killer doesn’t have wings (further adding to the identification confusion), but the male does. The female also has a very long stinger which she uses like a “multi-purpose stun-gun/venom injection apparatus” according to Dr. Eric Grissell in his indespensible book, Bees, Wasps and Ants: The Indespensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens. The male doesn’t have a stinger. The general scientific opinion seems to be that the sting of a Cow Killer is really bad–but probably not bad enough to bring down a cow!

I found a nice little article (here) that will give you a bit more detail on Cow Killers (Velvet Ants).

And here's a video from Youtube that shows a Velvet Ant (Cow Killer) searching for native bee nests on the ground.  The video also gives a nice talk about Cow Killers.

Watch out for these little girls when you are out in the wilds. This is one lady you do not want to pick up!

 

New Kerrville Bee Watchers

I just returned from Kerrville where I spoke to the Hill Country Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists about native bees. These folks are another great group of people who volunteer to promote conservation and maintenance of our Texas natural resources. The amount of volunteer hours these folks provide is amazing. 

All Texans should thank the Texas Master Naturalists for all they do.  In fact, all Texans should look into becoming Master Naturalists. They offer a great training program and I can guarantee you will make some great friends while helping educate, maintain, and conserve the fantastic natural resources of this great state.

It was a great crowd. I thought they were way . . . COOL! (You had to be there!)

Thanks for inviting me and making me feel so welcome.

New Bee Watchers

I had the great pleasure of talking about native Texas bees with the Highland Lakes Master Naturalists yesterday. What a wonderful group. Boy howdy, you should see all the projects these tireless folks work on. They build education centers, teach fishing clinics, do eagle counts (by boat across frozen water!), do wood duck projects, build bird houses, protect and find bats, lead hikes, work with young folks in many different programs, and share natural history information with everyone at the Burnet Lawn and Garden show every year. And that's just a bit of what they do.

I'm hoping a few of them will begin to enjoy a little bee-watching as well. They were a great group–even treating me to a great lunch at the house where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed. Great lunch in a great place, enthusiastic naturalists, and a little movie history–it just doesn't get much better than that.

A big THANK YOU from me to the Highland Lakes Master Naturalists.