These wasps forage for nectar and sometimes sleep on plants. As the nights cool off, they burrow under the soil at night. Scoliids do not have any sort of nest-guarding instinct. The only hazard they represent is to barefoot humans who might inadvertently step on one or to those unwise enough to molest these otherwise beneficial insects. Ant One of the velvet ants is called the cow killer because of its amazing stinger.
Velvet ants are parasitic wasps.
The females are wingless and resemble hairy ants. Female velvet ants seek out a host nest and lay their eggs on the host larva. The velvet ant larvae consume the host wasp larvae and pupate and mature into another generation of velvet ants. The cow killer parasitizes the nests of a large black, yellow, and orange solitary wasp called the cicada killer . The cicada killer provisions its nest with cicadas that the cicada killer larvae eat.