I ran across this fat mama in the backyard this morning (well not this one exactly, I grabbed the picture from another site). As I stood in mute amazement I wondered if there had been a toxic leak somewhere that had created this mutant. So that you understand the scale of her largess, I have to tell you that her circumfrence was slightly more than that of a Marlboro. Huge. Here’s what I found on the net:

Cowkillers are parasites of cicada killer wasps. They use their amazing stingers for protection should the cowkiller be discovered by the cicada killer wasp in its nest. This attractive velvet ant squeaks audibly, especially when stepped on, and is exceptionally tough. However, if stepped on barefooted, the squeaks of the cow killer would be drowned out by screams of the victim. Perhaps this is the derivation of the name, cowkiller. All velvet ants are parasitic wasps. The females are wingless and resemble hairy ants. The males have wings and resemble other small, dark, wasps. 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, pupate and mature into another generation of velvet ants. The cow killer parasitizes the nests of the cicada killer. Cow killers slip into the host wasp nest, lay their eggs and depart. The exceptionally tough exoskelton of the cow killer protects it from stings of the host wasp in case they meet in the nest. Velvet ants are not usually numerous, and no control measures are usually needed. However, one of the commercial aerosol bee and wasp sprays or one of the flying insect aerosols will also kill this insect.

Oh, and did I mention how great those popovers were last night? You should definitely make some. The best part? NO YEAST. Whip ‘em up in less than five and bake for forty. Scrumptious.