Odontophotopsis biramosa Schuster

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 : 8

Odontophotopsis biramosa Schuster

Odontophotopsis (Odontophotopsis) biramosa Schuster, 1952 . Brooklyn Ent. Soc., 47: 43–47. Male. Holotype data: California, Imperial Co., Holtville , 2 Jul 1929, P.W. Owens (NMNH).

Odontophotopsis (Odontophotopsis) biramosa Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 56. Male.

Diagnosis of male. This species is recognized by having a tridentate mandible with an large dorsal tooth separated from the lower portion of the mandibular apex by a deep, wide, sinus, which makes the mandibular apices appear biramose ( Fig. 7 ), and by the clypeus, which has a horseshoe-shaped tubercle posteromedially that overhangs the clypeus as a slight hood-like or nasutiform process ( Fig. 7 ). Also, this species has a single mesosternal process on each side of the midline, and its cuspis is approximately half the free length of the paramere. The genitalia are illustrated by Pitts et al. (2009) in Fig. 10 .

Female. Unknown.

Material examined (abbreviated). Arizona, Yuma Co., Maricopa Co., Mohave Co. California, Imperial Co., Riverside Co., San Bernardino Co. Nevada, Clark Co., Nye Co.

Distribution. The western Sonoran Desert of California and southwestern Arizona northward into Mojave Desert including southern Nevada.

Remarks. This species is rare, and has not been collected at Deep Canyon. It has been found in the Coachella Valley at Palm Springs, however, and included here because it is likely to be found here in the future. A more thorough discussion of this species can be found in Pitts (2007) and Pitts et al. (2009).

Schuster (1958) placed this species along with O. setifera in the O. setifera species-group. This group presumably was based heavily on similarities in mandibular morphology. Pitts (2007) studied the genitalia of these two species and suggested that they may not be closely related. Pitts et al. (2010) has confirmed this; O. biramosa seems to be closely related to O. melicausa while O. setifera seems to be closely related to, but not a member of, the O. parva species-group.

Figures

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.