MEET what could be the cutest mini-beast on the planet – the black and white ‘Panda Ant’.
Like a bizarre cross between an ant and a panda this one centimetre-long rarely spotted creature was pictured roaming across the photographer’s back garden.
Photographer, Chris Lukhaup, 42, captured the unusual creature, which he playfully refers to as a 'Panda Ant' due to its black and white colours, at his home in Santiago, Chile.
But the twist is the ‘ant’ is actually a flightless wasp.
“At first I thought it was a very unusual ant species,” said Chris.
“But after I saw it I immediately looked it up and was surprised to discover it was in fact a type of wasp.
“I guess it has evolved this ‘panda look’ as a form of camouflage pattern.
“It was very quick in the movements, so I really had problems photographing it.”
The black and white wasp is a member of the Mutillidae family.
Mutillidae are a family of more than 3,000 species of wasp whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. They come in an amazing variety of sizes, shapes and colours.
Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense pile of hair which most often is bright scarlet or orange but may also be black, white, silver, or gold.
There are thought to be up to 5,000 different species of these amazing wasps and biologists believe there could be many more currently undiscovered wasps.
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