Odontophotopsis acmaea Viereck, 1904

Wilson, Joseph S., 2017, Nocturnal Velvet Ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Joshua Tree National Park, Riverside County, California with the description of three new species, Zootaxa 4319 (2), pp. 329-367 : 335

Odontophotopsis acmaea Viereck, 1904

Odontophotopsis acmaeus Viereck, 1904 . Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 30: 84. ♂. Syntype data: Arizona, ( NMNH). Odontophotopsis (Odontophotopsis) grata Schuster (nec Melander , nec Schuster 1958 p. 53, 57, 58), 1958. Ent. Amer. 37: 55. ♂. Synonymized by Pitts et al. (2009).

Diagnosis of male. This species has the following combination of characters: the mandible excised ventrally forming an angle, but does not taper towards the apex, the apex of the mandible is slightly dilated (see Pitts et al. 2010a: Fig. 3), the mesosternum has a single pair of large distinct spines that have a posterior face that is longitudinally sulcate and have an apex that is bifid, the metasternum is bidentate, and the pygidium is granulate, but not defined laterally by carinae. Genitalia are illustrated in Boehme et al. (2012: Fig. 2).

Female. Unknown.

Material examined. Syntype data: Arizona ( NMNH) . USA: California: San Bernardino County: Joshua Tree National Park, Oasis of Mara , 1 ♂, 23.May.2012, ( EMUS) .

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah).

Activity. This species was rare at JTNP.

Remarks. This species is in the O. parva species-group along with O. aufidia , O. bellona , O. dalyi , sp. nov., O. mamata , O. parva and O. odontoloxia , sp. nov., which also occur at JTNP. Although this species is found in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts (e.g. Pitts et al. 2009, 2010a; Boehme et al. 2012), this species seems to be more abundant in more northern areas of the Mojave Desert ( Table 2 & 3), but not into the Great Basin Desert (e.g. Ferguson 1967).

References for genitalia illustrations are given for this species and the other Odontophotopsis Viereck species, but they are less diagnostic than for the other genera of nocturnal genera. Mesosternal armature and mandibular morphology are of more importance for diagnosing the species of Odontophotopsis .