Small velvet ant

Description:

Timulla species. This small (circa 9 mm) velvet ant was running around on the road in front of my house around 8:30 a.m. These hyperkinetic critters are difficult to photograph, but I captured this one and it stayed pretty well in a white plastic take-out container. This genus is distinctive--see the linked BugGuide page for identifying characters, also highlighted with the Flickr notes. Experts commenting on BugGuide state that species-level determination is very difficult, especially of females, which this is. This family has extreme sexual dimorphism, with males winged, resembling typical wasps, and females flightless, resembling ants. Taxonomy in this family is said to be difficult because some species are known only from females, and some only from males. It can be difficult to relate the two, but commenters on BugGuide say that molecular techniques are now being used on this problem.