Dasymutilla formosa (Blake)

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 : 53

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.1487.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:5790FDAC-C5EE-4ED3-AECE-33C0851E956E
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0382CB48-CB28-C219-CEF6-FF7CFC45C528
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Dasymutilla formosa (Blake)
status

Treatment

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) formosa Blake, 1871 . Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 3:244. Holotype female, Mexico (F. Sumichrast)

( No. 4503) [ ANSP] (examined). Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) balopilus Blake, 1871 . Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 3:244. Holotype female, Mexico (F. Sum-

ichrast) (No. 4504) [ANSP] (examined). Synonymy: Mickel (1964:164). Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) Balopilas Blake, 1871 . Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 3:265. Female. Sphaerophthalma (sic.) batopilas Cameron, 1895. Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym. 2:365. Female. Mutilla batophila Dalla Torre, 1897 . Cat. Hym. 8:14. Female.

Diagnosis of Female. This species has the apices of the middle and hind femora squarely truncate, with the surface of the outer lobe sulcate. It can be separated from other species having this character by a unique combination of structural characters and coloration. The posterolateral angle of the head of this species is distinctly carinate, but the head is not produced behind the compound eye (the distance from the posterior margin of the eye to the posterior margin of the head is distinctly less than the diameter of the eye). The mesonotum lacks a scutellar scale, while the pygidium is granulate. The head is usually clothed with silver setae, although sometimes it is golden, and the integument is, for the most part, ferruginous. The integument of tergum II is ferruginous and lacks maculae.

Male. Unknown.

Distribution. Mexico (Chiapas, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, Oaxaca); Honduras; Nicaragua.

Remarks. This species is known only from the female. It keys easily due to the structure of the middle and hind femora. It is distinguished from D. ferruginea by having the head produced behind the compound eye by a distance of less than the diameter of the eye. This relatively uncommon species is known only from about a dozen specimens. All known specimens have been examined.