New research has found an insect species with markings that are so black that they’re ‘superblack’ or ‘ultrablack’, absorbing ...

Velvet ants are solitary insects. Males have wings and search for the wingless females on the ground. Once they find each other and mate, the wasps go their separate ways. When the female is ready to ...

Few creatures can tangle with a velvet ant and walk away unscathed. These ground-dwelling insects are not ants, but parasitic wasps known for their excruciating stings. Now researchers have ...

Wasps aren’t normally admired for their looks, but one species—Traumatomutilla bifurca, a Brazilian velvet ant—is unlike any other. It has ultra-dark markings that reflect less than 1 ...

The sting of a female velvet ant is one of the most painful in the animal kingdom. Now, researchers have discovered that these insects have multiple proteins in their venom that make it ...

The first thing to understand about velvet ants is that they are not, in fact, ants. They're wasps, some of which are wingless, and are named in part for their fluffy exteriors. About the size of ...

BRASILIA, Brazil – A new study has revealed the complex makeup of an ant found in South America that can absorb nearly all visible light. Researchers analyzed the velvet ant’s exoskeleton and ...

(How these ants help find fossils.) One Amazon species (Allomerus ... There are several wasp species that closely resemble ants, including the velvet ant, which is actually a hairy, wingless ...