Pseudomethoca sanbornii ( Blake, 1871 )

Williams, Kevin A., 2023, Taxonomic updates for diurnal velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America, Zootaxa 5301 (1), pp. 105-123 : 117

Pseudomethoca sanbornii ( Blake, 1871)

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) sanbornii Blake, 1871: 248 , ♁.

Mutilla aeetis Fox, 1899: 228 , ♀. New synonym.

Material examined. I examined 575 specimens of P. sanbornii (CASC, CNCI, CSCA, CSUC, EMUS, FMNH, FSCA, PMNH, UCDC, UMMZ, UMSP) , including 191 attributed to the subspecies P. sanbornii aeetis (CNCI, CSCA, FSCA, PMNH, UCDC, UMSP) .

Distribution. USA (Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin).

Remarks. In their recent treatment of Dasymutilla, Manley et al. (2020) sunk all the unsupported subspecies with their nominotypical forms. Pseudomethoca sanbornii is the only currently recognized North American species in the genus that is subdivided into subspecies. Because P. s. sanbornii and P. s. aeetis overlap geographically and reveal intermediate characters in their coloration and diagnostic features, the trend of sinking subspecies is continued here.