Myrmilla (Pseudomutilla)

Cascio, Pietro Lo, Romano, Marcello & Grita, Flavia, 2012, New species and new records of mutillid wasps from the Socotra Archipelago (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52, pp. 525-544 : 528

Myrmilla (Pseudomutilla) sp.

Material examined. ‘ YEMEN: Soqotra / Zum Hum, 8.iv.2008 / B. Massa leg.’, 1 ♀ ( PLFG).

Notes. The only examined female clearly differs from the congenerics recorded from Yemen (see LELEJ & HARTEN 2006), while it shows a remarkable similarity to Myrmilla capitata (Lucas, 1848) in the structure and shape of clypeus, mandibles, mesosoma, and sternal carina, as well as in the general pattern of punctuation, colour and pubescence. However, it is characterized by the occurrence of some light erect setae on T4 and T5, while the same are usually black in the latter species. This character was considered of diagnostic importance in the keys of Myrmillinae given by LELEJ (1985: 96) to distinguish the latter species from a large group that includes M. mavromoustakisi Hammer, 1950 , M. tenuitruncata Skorikov, 1935 , M. vutshetitshi Skorikov, 1927 , M. badchysiana Lelej, 1980 , M. atalanta Nagy, 1967 , M. filippovi Lelej, 1985 , M. meda Skorikov, 1927 , and M. skorikovi Lelej, 1985 . The identity of the studied specimen can be definitively confirmed only by examination of Myrmilla males from Socotra. In fact, M. capitata was not previously recorded from Yemen by LELEJ & HARTEN (2006), and so far has been known only from the Mediterranean area ( LELEJ 2002).