I observed a large ant, actually, a wasp, in the family Mutillidae known as "small velvet ant". The ant was about 1 cm in length, and had a hairy abdomen (more so than elsewhere on the body).

I put the wasp in a clear plastic box for a couple of hours to take photos of it, and then released it where I found it.

As described at the bottom link below, I noticed that animal made a squeaking noise when first put in the plastic box, but later stopped the noise.

Curiously, the abdomen had patches of lighter colored hair that someone joked "looked like thongs showing above low riding pants"! Sort of a Nicki Minaj ant!

Velvet ants are solitary and able to sting repeatedly; the sting is reported as being quite painful, which may explain another popular name for some species in this family, "cow killer". Read more about them at the Texas A&M University: http://extentopubs.tamu.edu/eee_00040.html

Another page on Mutilidae:
http://www.desertusa.com/insects/velvet-ants.html