Thistledown Velvet Ant

About

Despite its name, the thistledown velvet ant isn’t actually an ant — it’s a parasitic wasp that’s native to the desert regions of the American Southwest. The white, fluffy females are wingless, and so superficially ant-like. But don’t be fooled by its cute appearance! It packs one of the longest stingers (relative to body length) of any bee or wasp. They have a parasitoid lifestyle, meaning they develop inside the nests of other insects, eventually taking over.