Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900

(Figs 1–4)

Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900; 75, ♀, type locality [“ Japan ”]

Mutilla rugiceps maesta Chen, 1957: 151, ♀, holotype, ♀, Kirin [Heilongjiang], Kaolintze [Gaolinzi], 16.vi.1940 [Heude Museum, Shanghai (now Shanghai Entomological Museum, Chinese Academy of Sciences)]. Junior subjective synonym of M. mikado according to Lelej 1985: 161.

Mutilla europaea: Su et al. 2019: 104, parasite of Bombus breviceps (China: Yunnan). Misidentification.

Material examined. RUSSIA: * Kuril Islands, SW Kunashir, Ivanovskij Cape, 28– 29.09.2013, Yu. & L. Sundukov, 2♀ [IBSS] . CHINA: * Sichuan, 35 km W Zhangle, 3620–3720 m, 12–13.VII.2001, S. Murzin, 1♀ [IBSS] ; * Shaanxi, S of Huaxian, SE Damingzhen, Huashan Mts., 2010–2155 m, 24.V.2009, I. Belousov & I. Kabak, 1♀ [IBSS] .

Distribution. Russia: Eastern Siberia (south), Far East (Amurskaya oblast, Khabarovskii krai, Primorskii krai, Sakhalin, *Kuril Islands (Kunashir)); China (Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Neimenggu, Shanxi, * Shaanxi, * Sichuan, Zhejiang, Yunnan), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), North Korea, South Korea.

Remarks. Unlike the other species treated here, Mutilla mikado is predominantly a Palaearctic species and only occurs in a few Oriental areas of China. In some older papers (e. g., Chen 1957), this species was treated as a subspecies of Mutilla europaea Linnaeus, 1758 . More recently, Mutilla europaea was recorded as a parasite of Bombus breviceps Smith, 1852, in Yunnan, China, but the mutillid in question was later determined to be Mutilla mikado, which is the only Mutilla species known to occur in Oriental regions of China.