Found it in and around my elm tree... What kind of ant is it?

Sorry for large size of pic.


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Looks more like a wingless wasp than an ant. Where are you located?

I'm in Dallas-Ft. Worth Texas area.

The tree removal guy said he found them all within the trunk of the tree when he was cutting it down. My cedar elm went yellow within two weeks and then died... I'm just trying to figure out why it died...

Also saw a bunch of red-headed ash borers all around the trunk and branches. THey appear to be mating...

http://i.imgur.com/lMpCyJrl.jpg

Odinn was correct. That is a species of wingless wasp called a "Velvet Ant" because of the similar proportions to ants. Apparently your tree remover found an egg clutch.


Here's what your local University has to say about them: Velvet Ants | Insects in the City (http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/biting-stinging/wasps/ent-3004/)

Your specimen is a beetle, perhaps it is a checkered beetle species (family Cleridae). There are checkered beetles that are mimics of velvet ants (family Mutilidae).

Orange-banded Checkered Beetle (Enoclerus ichneumoneus) (http://www.carolinanature.com/insects/coleoptera/enoclerusichneumoneus.html)

Family Cleridae - Checkered Beetles - BugGuide.Net (http://bugguide.net/node/view/113)

Revisiting your post... Noted that you have red-headed ash borers. While the internet resources I saw (Wikipedia) don't mention cedar as a host of the borer, there is a possibility that the ash borers killed your tree. Check under the bark of the tree and check for larval galleries or the larvae. It is interesting that there is a checkered beetle (family Cleridae) whose common name is ant beetle, and it is predaceous on bark beetles

Thanasimus formicarius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanasimus_formicarius)