Mutilla Linnaeus, 1758

Lelej, Arkady S., Williams, Kevin A., Terine, Joshua B., Okayasu, Juriya, Parikh, Grishma R. & Kumar, Girish P., 2023, Review of the tribe Mutillini (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) from the Oriental Region, Zootaxa 5228 (4), pp. 455-476 : 467

Genus Mutilla Linnaeus, 1758

Type species: Mutilla europaea Linnaeus,1758 by subsequent designation ( Latreille 1810).

Diagnosis. FEMALE. In the Oriental and eastern Palaearctic regions, this genus is unique in having the mesosomal sides parallel, T1 broad, and the T2 disc with uniformly black setae. Other diagnostic features include: mandible unarmed ventrally, head usually wider than mesosoma, mesosomal width equal to or narrower than pronotum in dorsal view, and T6 lacking defined pygidial plate. MALE. In the Oriental region, males can be separated from other Mutillinae genera by having the mandible unarmed ventrally, the clypeus with a medial projection, the tegula elongate, the mesoscutellum unarmed, T1 broad, T7 tuberculate or carinate, and the paramere with a ventral brush of long setae.

Remarks. Seventy species are currently placed in the genus Mutilla , mostly from the Afrotropical and Palaearctic regions ( Bischoff 1920, Lelej 2002, Pagliano et al. 2020). The eastern Palaearctic Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900 penetrates into Oriental areas of China. Other Oriental species that were previously placed in Mutilla ( Lelej 2005) are transferred into the genera Kurzenkotilla or Storozhenkotilla in this paper.