Timulla neobule Mickel, 1937

Waldren, George C., 2024, Taxonomic notes on velvet ants of the genus Timulla Ashmead, 1899 (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America and Canada, Insecta Mundi 2024 (55), pp. 1-10 : 10-11

Timulla neobule Mickel, 1937

Timulla (Timulla) neobule Mickel 1937a: 44 . Holotype ♂ (NMNH).

Timulla (Timulla) nicholi Mickel 1937a: 47 . Holotype ♀ (UMSP). New synonym.

Remarks. In his remarks for the female-based species Timulla nicholi Mickel, 1937 , Mickel (1937a) stated: “This is probably the female of neobule . Mr. Nichol has collected both species at the same time and place, and the evidence gained by the process of elimination indicates that nicholi and neobule are probably opposite sexes of the same species.” The specimens Mickel (1937a) was referring to were collected in Mesa, Arizona. Additional specimens of both T. nicholi and Timulla neobule Mickel, 1937 have been collected in Bard, California by H. Ray on upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum Linnaeus, 1758 . Only three species of Timulla are known from California, all in the extreme southern part of the state: Timulla neobule , T. nicholi , and T. tyro Mickel, 1937 ( Mickel 1937a; pers. obs.). The last species, T. tyro , was described by Mickel from both sexes, leaving T. neobule and T. nicholi as the only species of Timulla in California known from a single sex.

Both of these species ( T. neobule and T. nicholi ) are members of the Timulla vagans species-group which is diagnosed by the following combination of characters. Males have a prominent dorsal carina of the scape that often is densely setose apically, the mandible is ventrobasally armed with a tooth, the mesocoxae are armed with a triangular process, and the pygidial process is Y-shaped with the arms of the Y as long as or longer than the stem and the cuticle is concave between these arms. Females are diagnosed in having a transverse scutellar scale present and the pygidial plate is primarily granulate in sculpture.

Based on the overlap in distribution and shared membership in the T. vagans species-group, Timulla nicholi Mickel, 1937 is here considered a new synonym of Timulla neobule Mickel, 1937 .

Material examined ( Timulla neobule ) ( 9 ♂). Holotype: MEXICO: Sinaloa: Los Mochis , 15.Jul.1922 (1♂ – NMNH – USNMENT 01545829 ). Non-type (s): USA: Arizona: Maricopa Co. : Mesa, 11.Oct.1925, A.A. Nichol (1♂ – EMUS). California: Imperial Co. : Bard, 20.Aug.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – SDMC); 27.Aug.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – CSCA; 1♂ – SDMC); 30.Aug.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – CSCA); 03.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – SDMC); 16.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – CSCA); 27.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♂ – SDMC).

Material examined ( Timulla nicholi ) ( 9 ♀). Holotype: USA: Arizona: Maricopa Co. : Mesa, 11.Oct.1925, A.A. Nichol (1♀ – UMSP –Type specimen no. 87 Univ. of Minn. ). Non-type(s): USA: California: Imperial Co. : Bard, 03.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♀ – SDMC); 07.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (1♀ – AMNH); 08.Sep.1965, H. Ray, “ex Gossypium hirsutum ” (5♀ – CSCA; 1♀ – SDMC).

In total, 31♂ and 33♀ of Timulla neobule Mickel, 1937 were examined ( AMNH, ASUHIC, CASC, CSCA, DGMC, EMEC, EMUS, MCZ, NMNH, SDMC, UAIC, UCDC, UCRC, UMSP, UNSM).