Dasymutilla eminentia Mickel, 1928

MANLEY, DONALD G. & PITTS, JAMES P., 2007, Tropical and Subtropical Velvet Ants of the Genus Dasymutilla Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) with Descriptions of 45 New Species, Zootaxa 1487 (1), pp. 1-128 : 49

Dasymutilla eminentia Mickel

Dasymutilla eminentia Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:79. Holotype male, allotype female, Tucson, Arizona (F. H. Snow) [SEMC] (examined).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C4F). The female of this species is easily distinguished by having the mesosoma as broad as long, and by having sternum II scabrous at the sides and apex. The metapleuron, propodeum, and anterior margin of tergum II are all clothed with yellow setae.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C4G). The male is easily distinguished by having the posterior trochanter produced at the apex internally into a blunt tooth, a character shared by few species. The integument is largely or entirely black, and the setae of the metasoma, from the apical margin of tergum II, are entirely yellow to orange.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, New Mexico); Mexico (Baja California (?), Sinaloa, Sonora).

Remarks. The female can be distinguished from the newly described species D. monstrosa by the shape of the mesosoma. In the latter, the mesosoma is longer than broad. The female can be distinguished from D. scaber on the basis of setal coloration. In D. scaber , the metapleuron, propodeum, and anterior margin of tergum II are all clothed with black setae.

The male has the integument largely or entirely black, which distinguishes it from the new species D. impressa . It is distinguished from D. scaber on the basis of setal coloration. Dasymutilla eminentia has the metasoma, from the apical margin of tergum II, clothed entirely with yellow to orange setae, unlike D. scaber .

Krombein (1979) listed Baja California in the distribution for this species. We have not seen any specimens of D. eminentia from Baja California. The specimens in question probably are those of D. scaber , a closely related species found in Baja California.

This is a moderately common species. We have examined approximately one hundred specimens of females, and about half that many males.