Thanks for the pic link. I have tried to enhance them more for posting here.
It looks like you have found a "cow killer ant" also known as the North American velvet ant.
Although, those are only common names. They aren't ants at all, but flightless wasps, scientifically: Mutilla Dasymutilla occidentalis
The wingless hairy females can be up to 1/2 inch long. Don't let it out of that jar - The sting is said to be very painful. Only the wingless females can sting - the winged males are quite harmless. The females tend to exist in solitude, so don't panic. Most of the time, only one of these live in an area at a time. The sting is for parasitizing bee and wasp nests. The females lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps and bees, where their hatched grubs eat the food stored by the original owner of the nest as well as the grubs and pupae in it.