A Velvet Ant from Tsavo, Kenya

This fascinating little creature is a Velvet Ant (a flightless wasp in the family Mutillidae). I found her in Tsavo East wondering around the grass in a very busy manner in the mid afternoon .

I saw another near Olgersaile on the road to Makadi. As far as I'm aware they are the only 2 I have ever seen. These guys have an incredibly painful sting and are pretty much sting and puncture proof themselves. Entomologists have reported having great difficulty mounting specimens of these because they can't stick a steel pin through them, a defence I imaging against the stings of the bees and wasps they parasitize. Many other creatures mimick these velvet ants at avoid predation themselves.