Dasymutilla cypris (Blake)

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 : 47

Dasymutilla cypris (Blake)

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) Cypris Blake, 1871 . Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 3:246. Holotype female, Georgia [ANSP] (examined).

Dasymutilla mutata miamensis Rohwer, 1912 . Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 41:462. Holotype female, Miami, Florida (H. C. Herricksen) (No. 14141) [USNM] (examined).

Dasymutilla hora Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:196. Holotype male, Thomasville , July 22-26, 1916 [AMNH] (examined).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C4A). This species can be distinguished by the following unique combination of characters. Most importantly, the posterolateral angle of the head is tuberculate, with the glabrous tubercle being directed outward towards the compound eye, while neither the antennal scrobe nor the gena are carinate. Also, the mesosoma is longer than broad, and possesses a scutellar scale.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C4B). The male of this species can be distinguished by the following unique combination of characters. There is a pit present on sternum II that is filled with setae and is distinctly anterior in position. Also of importance are the yellow/ferruginous maculae that are present on tergum II. Except for pale setae on the maculae, the remainder of the setae are black. Also, the antennal scrobe is carinate dorsally, and the pygidium possesses an apical fringe of setae.

Host Identity. Bembix cineria Handlirsch ( Hymenoptera : Sphecidae ) ( Fattig 1943).

Distribution. USA (New Jersey west to Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico); Canada (Manitoba); Mexico.

Remarks. This is a common and widely distributed species. The female keys very easily, as does the male as long as the apical fringe of setae on the pygidium is not worn off, which is frequently the case. For that rea- son, the male is placed in the key in two locations. Fattig (1943) reported attracting males to caged females. Dozens of specimens of both sexes of this species have been examined.