Invreiella satrapa

Waldren, George C., Williams, Kevin A., Cambra, Roberto A. & Pitts, James P., 2020, Systematic revision of the North American velvet ant genus Invreiella Suárez (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) with description of eleven new species, Zootaxa 4894 (2), pp. 151-205 : 186-187

Invreiella satrapa species-group

(Map 6)

Members of this female-based species-group are recognized by the following combination of character states:

1. Antennal scrobe carina position: inner tip separated from antennal rim.

2. Frons and antennal rim position: frons weakly to moderately transversely recessed and concave below antennal scrobe carina, antennal rim consequently visible or not when head is viewed laterally.

3. Antennal rim: weakly tuberculate.

4. Clypeus: plate-like and medially flattened, rugose-granulate, with central cluster of long raised setae, with two medioapical, anterad-projecting tubercles.

5. Genal process: triangular to spinose, posterior genal carina weakly sinuate to nearly straight.

6. Pronotal carina: present, glabrous, visible both dorsally and laterally.

7. Lateral face of pronotum sculpture: rugose-striate, with moderate punctures amidst the striae.

8. Vertical column of punctures of mesopleuron: puncture edges weakly tuberculate, not forming anterior or posterior carinae.

9. Mesopleuron, metapleuron, and lateral face of propodeum sculpture, where present: conspicuously striaterugose, granulate, and microgranulate, with few moderate punctures amid sculpture.

Species included: I. breviclypeata Waldren , sp. nov., I. chihuahuensis Waldren , sp. nov., and I. satrapa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) .

Distribution: Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Mexico, Michoacan, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Veracruz, and Zacatecas).

Biogeography: Nearctic region (Chihuahuan Desert province); Mexican transition zone (Sierra Madre del Sur province; Sierra Madre Occidental province; Sierra Madre Oriental province, Transmexican Volcanic Belt province).

Remarks: The form of the clypeus in this species-group is noteworthy in that it is plate-like and often elongate, medially ending in two tubercles (figs 24, 25, 89–91). This protruding clypeal form is convergent among several un-related species of Pseudomethocini , as noted by Cambra et al. (2014): Hoplocrates centromaculata ( Cresson, 1902) , Hoplognathoca jinotega Cambra, Quintero, & Brothers, 2014 and Invreiella satrapa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) . We add to this list I. breviclypeata , sp. nov. and I. chihuahuensis , sp. nov., as well as Hoplocrates lingulatus Mickel, 1941 and Pseudomethoca nephele ( Fox, 1899) , the latter being a small species that occurs in south Texas and adjacent northern Mexico. In Hc. lingulatus , Hg. jinotega , and P. nephele , the clypeal process is anterad-projecting, whereas in the Invreiella satrapa species-group it is ventrad-projecting, with the two apical tubercles anterad-projecting, forming an apparent “scoop” in I. chihuahuensis , sp. nov. and I. satrapa . The function of this clypeal form is presently unknown.

Also of note is the transverse recession of the frons below the scrobe carinae, which results in the recession of the antennal rims and clypeus. This condition is variably observed in this species-group as well as the I. suarezi species-group (see remarks under the latter).