Red Velvet Ant or "Cow Killer" The Dasymutilla occidentalis are actually wasps. The females of the species are wingless and covered with red hair, giving it the appearance of an ant. The males of the species have wings, but cannot sting. The red velvet ant is common in southwestern America and Mexico. The wasp is also known as the cow killer, a misleading name because not many cows are stung, and it would be absurd to think that one bite would kill a cow. Instead, the name is a reference to the insect's severely painful sting, as if to say, "that hurt enough to kill a cow".