Dasymutilla arenivaga Mickel

Pitts, James P., Wilson, Joseph S., Williams, Kevin A. & Boehme, Nicole F., 2009, Velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of the Algodones sand dunes of California, USA, Zootaxa 2131, pp. 1-53 : 8-12

Dasymutilla arenivaga Mickel

Dasymutilla arenivaga Mickel, 1928 . U.S. Nat. Mus., Bull. 143: 278. Female. Holotype data: Female, Coyote Wells, Colorado Desert, California, August 11, 1914, J.C. Bradley (CUIC).

Diagnosis of male. The male of this species possesses the following combination of characters: the setae of the dorsum are yellow to orange, the eyes and ocelli are large with the diameter of ocellus being longer than distance between lateral and anteromedian ocelli, the axillae are truncate posterolaterally, the wings are fuscous, white setae are present on T2 but are restricted to the apical fringe, S2 lacks a median pit filled with setae, and an apical fringe of setae are present on the pygidium.

Diagnosis of female. The female of this species possesses the following combination of characters: the eyes are enlarged, the dorsum of the head, mesosoma and T2 are clothed with yellow to orange setae while the setae of T3–6 are black, and the dorsum of the mesosoma is longer than broad.

Material examined. California, Imperial Co. : Algodones Dunes, Coachella Canal Rd., 6.4 km NW Hwy 78, 14.4 km NW Glamis, 1 female, 3–30.May.2008, S. Heydon and K. Lorenzen ( UCDC), 1 male, 22.Sep–25.Nov.2008, T. Zavortink and R. Kimsey ( UCDC).

Distribution. Sonoran and Mojave deserts in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

Remarks. This species is closely related to D. nocturna , and like that species is active both diurnally and nocturnally. It is possible that D. nocturna and D. arenivaga are conspecific. The range of D. arenivaga surrounds that of D. nocturna and these two species only differ in coloration and the mesosomal shape of the females, but this is highly variable in other species (i.e., no other characters can be found, either between the females or the males, including genitalia). Further evidence, such as molecular data, is needed to support this conclusion. This species is not limited to the Algodones Sand Dunes.