Dasymutilla vestita (Lepeletier)

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 : 100-101

Dasymutilla vestita (Lepeletier)

Mutilla vestita Lepeletier, 1845 . Hist. Nat. Ins. Hym. 3:634. Holotype female, allotype male, Mexico, two males and one female, (Spinola collection, No. 5) [ Mickel (1937) stated that these may or may not be the type specimens, but that they were described by Lepeletier] [MRSN] (examined). Gynandromorph: Mann (1915:178).

Mutilla Montezumae Lepeletier, 1845 . Hist. Nat. Ins. Hym. 3:634. Holotype female (locality unknown).

Mutilla fulvohirta Cresson, 1865c . Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil. 4:433. Holotype male, Colorado (No. 1882) [ANSP] (examined).

Sphaerophthalma [ sic.] townsendi Cockerell, 1894 . Ent. News 5:199. Holotype male, Zuni River, Arizona, July 28

( Townsend) (No. 4963) [ ANSP] (examined). Sphaerophthalma [sic.] aspasia Cameron, 1895. Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym. 2:370. Holotype male, Mexico (Höge) (No.

15.1536) [BMNH] (examined) (Preocc. in Mutilla ). Mutilla aspasioides Dalla Torre, 1897 . Cat. Hym. 8:12. N. name. Ephuta californica var. euchroa Cockerell, 1897 . Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 20:513. Holotype female, Embudo, New

Mexico, September 25 (Cockerell) (locality unknown).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C9J). This female is differentiated from others by the following combination of characters. It has the head distinctly narrower than the mesosoma. The antennal scrobe is distinctly carinate dorsally, while the gena lacks a carina. The mesosoma is as broad as long, and without a scutellar scale. Sternum II is merely punctate, not scabrous. Tergum II lacks maculae. The entire dorsum of the body is clothed with brilliant orange to red setae.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C9K). The male is easily recognized because the posterolateral angle of the last sternite is dentate, a character that is shared only with D. cotulla . This species is distinguished from D. cotulla by having the setae of the dorsum of the body concolorous, brilliant orange to red.

Host Identity. Anthophora occidentalis (Cresson) ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ( Mickel 1928); Diadasia enavata (Cresson) ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ( Krombein 1958); D. bituberculata (Cresson) and D. nitidifrons (Cockerell) ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ( Arneson and Pitts 2003); and Megachile perihirta Cockerell ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ( Krombein 1958).

Distribution. USA (North Dakota south to Texas, west to California and Oregon); Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan); Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, Zacatecas and, according to Krombein (1979), south to Oaxaca).

Remarks. This is another species having a widespread distribution and considerable color variation, resulting in a long synonymy. The exact location of the type specimens of this species is not known. Mickel (1937) stated that the males and females in the Spinola collection may or may not be the type specimens, but that they were those that had been described by Lepeletier. Mickel further stated that the female specimen of M. Montezumae probably was not the type specimen. These four specimens, as well as all other type specimens, have been examined. Hundreds of specimens of both sexes of this species have been examined.