Sphaeropthalma pallida (Blake)

Pitts, James P., Wilson, Joseph S., Williams, Kevin A. & Boehme, Nicole F., 2010, Nocturnal velvet ant males (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Deep Canyon, California including four new species and a fifth new species from Owens Lake Valley, California, Zootaxa 2553, pp. 1-34 : 27

Sphaeropthalma pallida (Blake)

Agama pallida Blake, 1871 . Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 3: 263. Male. Holotype data: Texas, type no. 4552 (ANSP). Sphaeropthalma (Micromutilla) arizonae Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 16. Male. Holotype data: Tucson, Arizona, 5.Jun.1935, Bryant (UMSP).

Diagnosis of male. This small species can be recognized by the deeply excised mandibles that are oblique apically ( Fig. 27 ), a marginal cell that is approximate the same length as the stigma, the mesosternum lacks processes, the first metasomal segment is sessile with the second, plumose setal fringes are absent on the metasoma, and the cuspis of the genitalia is very short just barely surpassing the free length of the penis valve (Fig. 61).

Female. Unknown.

Material examined. California, Riverside Co., Deep Canyon: 1 male, 4. May.1974, 1 male, 4– 6. May.1970, 2 males, 15–23. May.1970, 5 males, 16. May.1963, 1 male, 1–4. Jun.1970, 2 males, 6– 13. Jun.1969, 1 male, 13–18. Jun.1969, 1 male, 27–28. Jun.1969, 1 male, 20.Jun–1. Jul.1969, 1 male, 13– 14. Jul.1969, 1 male, 7–9. Aug.1969, 1 male, 30.Aug–7. Sep.1973, 2 males, 11. Sep.1969, 1 male, 25.Sep.1969.

Distribution. Widespread throughout the Southwest from Texas and Oklahoma to Mojave and Sonoran deserts.

Remarks. Ferguson (1967) synonymized S. pallida and S. arizonae . We agree with this conclusion. This species could be confused with S. difficilis from which it can be separated by differences in the length of the genitalic cuspis. In S. pallida the cuspis (Fig. 61) barely surpasses the penis valve while in S. difficilis the cuspis is elongate (see Fig. 3 in Pitts et al. 2009).

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 31. Head, anterior view. 25. Sphaeropthalma. megagnathos; 26. S. mendica; 27. S. pallida; 28. S. sublobata; 29. S. tetracuspis; 30. S. triangularis; and 31. S. yumaella.

FIGURES 1 – 12. Head, anterior view. 1. Acanthophotopsis falciformis; 2. Acrophotopsis campylognatha; 3. Odontophotopsis acmaea; 4. O. armata; 5. O. aufidia; 6. O. bellona; 7. O. biramosa; 8. O. clypeata; 9. O. inconspicua; 10. O. mamata; 11. O. melicausa; and 12. O. quadrispinosa.