Something that came up in conversation with my boyfriend and I, he told me about the Velvet ant. Somehow after talking about the Camel Spider shell he found in his room, he brought this up. So just because I thought I would talk about them both. He told me to check out the ant, so I did.

Image via Wikipedia

This ugly mug belongs to the velvet ant, A.K.A. “The Cow Killer”. It was mistaken as an ant for some time, but it is a wasp. The females are wingless, while the males have wings. These, like many things do not feel the need to bother us, but if stepped on barefoot, YOU WILL KNOW IT!! The females sting was said to be so painful that it could kill a cow, hence the nickname.

Image via Wikipedia

Now onto our next convict. The Camel spider, while the stories on the internet say these buggers can get to be HUGE. Many of the soldiers who talk about them say not as big as we think. The shell my boyfriend found was that of a 4 inch one, so now an even bigger one is lose in his room somewhere. While everyone seems to think these guys are just in the middle east, wrong its cousin “Deer Killer” is said to be found in the southwestern part of the U.S. and Mexico. Very different, but are still related.

Image via Wikipedia

 There are many myths of the camel spider, truth be told. The can move up to 10mph and only usually grow to be 8 inches long. They do have 4 fangs instead of 2 like most arachnids. Like many spider bites, they can get infected and it still hurts to get bitten.

  Just alittle fun article for all to read. I hope you enjoyed it!! Sure gave me the chills.