Mount Islip from Hwy 2

yobtaf · Post by **yobtaf** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 5:11 pm

I havent been to little jimmy in about 28 years

So today was the day to head up. I went out with a friend and his son but his son wasn't feeling very well. I think he got a little car tummy as my 5 year old calls it. So we took our time heading up and had a great time. There was nobody on the trail at 7am but as the day went on I think one of those charter bus parked and then it got loud on top of Mt Islip.

Can anyone tell me what kind of bug this is?

more here http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k50 ... ?start=all

Post by **Taco** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 8:05 pm

That might be a Velvet Ant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutillidae

T McPherson · Post by **T McPherson** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 11:33 am

Great images and trip report.
The critter may be a type of Hairy Beetle. I've seen them near the North side of Lake Arrowhead.

bugguide.net/node/view/51148

Slowest_Hiker · Post by **Slowest_Hiker** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:43 pm

I agree with velvet ant. I saw one like that on Mt Waterman recently.

T McPherson · Post by **T McPherson** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 5:55 pm

It could be an ant, but, it was the lack of a third body segment that swayed me towards beetle.

Slowest_Hiker · Post by **Slowest_Hiker** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:54 pm

One of those confusing names - velvet ants aren't ants, they're wasps

I had seen the red kind on the Mt Wilson trail and had the same confusion, having heard of "velvet ants" but thinking it clearly couldn't be that because it obviously wasn't an ant.

After I saw the dirt-colored one on Waterman I went hunting around for info and learned about the wasp business here:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/category/wa ... lvet-ants/
I'm just glad I didn't mess with it!

Some look ant-ier than others according to the photos. The non-red one pictured here may be a thistledown velvet ant or relative. I'm don't know much about beetles, but it looks a lot like what I saw on Waterman, and I got a good look at the legs of that one and they matched up well with the thistledown velvet ant.

yobtaf · Post by **yobtaf** » Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:25 pm

Slowest_Hiker wrote: ↑
Some look ant-ier than others according to the photos. The non-red one pictured here may be a thistledown velvet ant or relative. I'm don't know much about beetles, but it looks a lot like what I saw on Waterman, and I got a good look at the legs of that one and they matched up well with the thistledown velvet ant.

I think this is it.

rokclimbr · Post by **rokclimbr** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 7:05 am

Whatever you do do not touch it. When I was a kid I was climbing out at Buttermilks and saw a furry red one and tried to pick it up. The most painful sting I've ever experienced. Horrific.

yobtaf · Post by **yobtaf** » Thu Sep 22, 2011 5:39 am

rokclimbr wrote: ↑Whatever you do do not touch it. When I was a kid I was climbing out at Buttermilks and saw a furry red one and tried to pick it up. The most painful sting I've ever experienced. Horrific.

It moved so slow, it was kinda weird. I'm glad I didn't pick it up, Ill stick to the poodle bush.