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    nugentoffer's Avatar
    nugentoffer Posts: 23, Reputation: 2
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Aug 10, 2014, 09:19 AM
    Can someone help me identify this ant or insect?
    Found it in and around my elm tree... What kind of ant is it?

    Sorry for large size of pic.


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    odinn7's Avatar
    odinn7 Posts: 7,691, Reputation: 1547
    Entomology Expert
    		  
    #2

    Aug 10, 2014, 10:03 AM
    Looks more like a wingless wasp than an ant. Where are you located?
    nugentoffer's Avatar
    nugentoffer Posts: 23, Reputation: 2
    New Member
    		  
    #3

    Aug 10, 2014, 10:50 AM
    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...

    Catsmine's Avatar
    Catsmine Posts: 3,826, Reputation: 739
    Pest Control Expert
    		  
    #4

    Aug 10, 2014, 11:35 AM
    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
    Locrian_44's Avatar
    Locrian_44 Posts: 44, Reputation: 14
    Junior Member
    		  
    #5

    Aug 15, 2014, 09:13 PM
    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)

    Family Cleridae - Checkered Beetles - BugGuide.Net
    Locrian_44's Avatar
    Locrian_44 Posts: 44, Reputation: 14
    Junior Member
    		  
    #6

    Aug 19, 2014, 11:30 PM
    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
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