Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875 )

Boehme, Nicole F., Tanner, David A., Williams, Kevin A. & Pitts, James P., 2012, Faunal study of velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) and their activity patterns and habitat preference at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nye County, Nevada, USA, Zootaxa 3587, pp. 1-45 : 30

Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875)

( Fig. 18)

Mutilla Edwardsii Cresson, 1875: 119 ,

3. Holotype: Oregon (ANSP).

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii edwardsii: Schuster 1958: 36 , 3.

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii flammifera Schuster, 1958: 36 ,

3. Holotype: California, Antioch (UMSP).

Diagnosis. MALE. The male of S. edwardsii can be separated from all other Sphaeropthalma species by its coloration. The pubescence varies from yellow to scarlet, while the integumental coloration varies from orange to piceous and the wings are dark brown to black. This species also has the following unique combination of characters. The mandible is diagnostic being moderately dilated, distally little or scarcely wider than at tooth, the ventral basal tooth of the mandible is small, and the apex is vertical ( Fig. 18). Also, the clypeus is moderately depressed below the dorsal mandibular margin, the sternal felt line is absent, and the genitalic morphology is unique (see Pitts 2006: Figs 8–10 ). FEMALE. The female of this species is easily recognized by the unique combination of characters: a small ventral angulation is located basally on the mandible, but the mandible the lacks a dorsal tooth at the termination of the dorsal carina, metasomal segment 1 distinctly petiolate with the second segment, the pygidium is granulate, plumose setae are present especially on the fringes of the metasomal tergites, and the dorsum is covered in dense long yellow setae that obscures the integumental sculpturing.

Material examined. Type material. Holotypes: M. edwardsii : Oregon ( ANSP) ; S. edwardsii flammifera : California, Antioch, 14 September 1941, J.R. Fisher ( UMSP) . Other material. Nevada, Nye Co., AMNWR: Nondune site 5: 1 ♀, PT, 8.VII.2008, NFB & DAT.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon).

Activity. No males were collected. One female was collected in early July 2008.

Remarks. Sphaeropthalma edwardsii were too rarely encountered to determine their habitat preference. Only one S. edwardsii female was collected in July in a pitfall trap. Sphaeropthalma edwardsii was not found at the NTS.

Figures

FIGURES 2 – 11. Male genitalia. 2. Odontophotopsis acmaea: dorsal view (left) and internal view (right); 3. O. armata: dorsal view and lateral view of cuspis (inset); 4. O. bellona: dorsal view; 5. O. mamata: dorsal view and lateral view of cuspis (inset); 6. O. microdonta: dorsal view (right) and ventral view (left); 7. O. piute: dorsal view; 8. O. serca: dorsal view and lateral view of cuspis (inset); 9. Sphaeropthalma nana: internal view; 10. S. orestes: dorsal view (left) and ventral view (right); and 11. S. parkeri: dorsal view (left) and ventral view (right).