Dasymutilla californica (Radoszkowski)

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 : 35-36

Dasymutilla californica (Radoszkowski)

Mutilla Californica Radoszkowski, 1861 . Horae Soc. Ent. Rossica 1:86. Plesiotype female, Dyerville, California [UMSP] (examined).

Dasymutilla abdita Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:293. Holotype male, Los Angeles County, California (No. 40755) [USNM] (examined).

Diagnosis of Female ( Plate C2M ). Key characters for this species include the posterolateral angle of the head being tuberculate, and the metasoma being clothed with long, dense yellow to scarlet setae. The female also has the antennal scrobe carinate dorsally, the gena ecarinate, the mesosoma longer than broad, but lacking a scutellar scale.

Diagnosis of Male ( Plate C2N ). The male of this species has the head compressed laterally, the pronotum conspicuously emarginate medially, and sternum II convex and without a pit filled with setae. Also, the integument is entirely black and is covered with conspicuous yellow to scarlet setae, flagellomere I is shorter than the remaining segments, sternum I lacks a rear tooth on the longitudinal median carina, and the pygidium lacks an apical fringe of setae.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah); Canada (British Columbia); Mexico.

Remarks. This is a very common species throughout its range. It is easily distinguished in both sexes. It is superficially very similar to D. coccineohirta , which occupies much the same range. However, the female is easily distinguished by the presence of the tubercles on the back of the head. The male is distinguished by the combination of characters listed above. Several hundred specimens of both sexes have been examined.

Figures

PLATE 2. Male genitalia of Dasymutilla. A. D. impressa. B. D. ionothorax. C. D. loreto. D. D. mazatlanorum. E. D. mirabilis. F. D. mirapenis. G. D. modgudi. H. D. naranjo.