Dasymutilla sicheliana (Saussure)

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 : 88-89

Dasymutilla sicheliana (Saussure)

Mutilla Sicheliana Saussure, 1868 (1867) . Ann. Soc. Ent. Soc. Fr. 7:360. Lectotype female, specimen labeled by Mickel, without date [MHNG] (examined).

Sphaerophthalma [sic.] prunotincta Cockerell, 1895. Ent. News 6:60. Holotype female, Guanajuato, Mexico (A. Duges) [specimen lost]. Synonymy: Mickel (1965:3).

Sphaerophthalma [ sic.] thera Cameron, 1895. Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym. 2:358. Holotype female, Mexico, Milpas in Durango [ BMNH] (examined). Preocc. in Mutilla . Synonymy: Mickel (1965:3).

Sphaerophthalma [ sic.] thalia Cameron, 1895. Biol. Cent.-Amer., Hym. 2:372. Holotype male, Mexico, Chilpancingo , Guerrero (No. 15.1062) [ BMNH] (examined). Synonymy: Manley and Radke (2002:230).

Mutilla gynaecologica Dalla Torre, 1897 . Cat. Hym. 8:45. N. name.

Dasymutilla intermixta Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:256. Holotype male, Post Creek Canyon, Pinaleno Mountains, Fort Grant, Arizona, July 15-18, 1917 (J. Bequaert) [UMSP] (examined). Synonymy: Manley and Radke (2002:230).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C8C). This species can be recognized by its coloration and several structural characteristics. It has the antennal scrobe strongly carinate dorsally, and a genal carina is present as well. The mesosoma is longer than broad, and possesses a scutellar scale. The mesosoma lacks sharp, lateral tubercles. Tergum II is coarsely punctate. It lacks maculae, but does possess two spots of white setae. The integument is reddish. Setae of the dorsum are not concolorous, and there are no red setae present.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C8D). This species can be recognized by its coloration and several structural characteristics. The male also has the antennal scrobe carinate dorsally. There is a median pit on sternum II that is densely filled with setae. The pygidium lacks an apical fringe of setae. The metasomal integument is predominantly reddish and lacks maculae. However, the integument of the apical segments are black. The metasoma is clothed with red setae.

Distribution. USA (Arizona); Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Colima, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Zacatecas); Costa Rica (Guanacaste).

Remarks. This species is known from both sexes. Recorded in the United States only from Arizona, this species is widely distributed in Mexico, along the western mainland all the way south into Costa Rica. This is a relatively common species of which several hundred females and about a hundred males have been examined.