The velvet beauty

ID: Velvet ant(male)

One of the most exclusive beauty (atleast in my case), was spotted at the start of the trail, almost having a face off with a jumping spider. The jumping spider luckily hopped off the plant, leading this beauty to roam around the leaf, oscillating its antennae almost like thumping the leaf, probably to locate some prey.
Also known as a cow killer, due to the lethal sting that it can give, as a defensive mechanism, these are infamous for the extremely painful stings. These beauties have a very tough exoskeleton, a key asset for invading its preys’ nests and another major characteristic being that the male seem to possess the capability to fly, while the female tend to be wingless and, as per the limited encounters, much smaller in size.

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro
F/6.3
Shutterspeed 1/200
ISO 400

Handheld, External flash fired

Location: Nagla trail

Nice pose. The detailed descriotion gives a good instight to its behaviour. Good details on the body. Nice capture. Thanks for sharing.

This has come out well. May be slightly less space at the right could have been experimented with. Nice description. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi