The first thing to understand about velvet ants is that they are not ants. They’re wasps, some of which are wingless, and are named in part for their exteriors. About the size of a board-game die, a species of velvet ant in Brazil is known for its black and white markings that dazzle the eye.
It “looks like magic,” said Vinicius Lopez, an entomologist at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro in Brazil who studies insect coloration. The effect makes them easy to lose sight of, he said with the help of a colleague who translated his remarks to English. It is perhaps why some refer to them as “sorcerer ants.”
A team of scientists led by Lopez found that the black parts on female velvet ants were ultrablack — so matte that they absorbed nearly all visible light. The discovery, published in the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, makes this species, Traumatomutilla bifurca, the first known insect among bees, wasps and ants to display that shade.
Ultrablack pigmentation is rare in the animal kingdom. It helps organisms that have it hide from predators, regulate body temperature and attract mates. The markings on female velvet ants also absorb nearly all ultraviolet light, which could be a defense mechanism against predators that can see those wavelengths. But it’s not clear that velvet ants actually need the camouflage. It’s also a mystery why only the females of this species of velvet ant are ultrablack. In the future, the researchers plan to investigate the environmental pressures that caused them to evolve that way. — KATRINA MILLER
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
