Ephucilla viet ( Lelej, 1995 )

Williams, Kevin A., Lelej, Arkady S., Okayasu, Juriya, Borkent, Christopher J., Malee, Rufeah, Thoawan, Kodeeyah & Thaochan, Narit, 2019, The female velvet ants (aka modkhong) of southern Thailand (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), with a key to the genera of southeast Asia, Zootaxa 4602 (1), pp. 1-69 : 17

8a. Ephucilla viet ( Lelej, 1995)

( Figs 7 , 68–70 )

Sinotilla viet Lelej 1995b: 25 , ♀.

Ephucilla viet: Lelej, 2005: 41 , ♀.

Diagnosis. FEMALE. The following features are diagnostic for E. viet : the clypeus has a basomedial tooth, F2 is as long as F1, the head is predominantly black, the mesosoma is broadest in the pronotum and narrowest in the propodeum, the scutellar scale indistinct and subtriangular, T2 lacks a basomedial spot of whitish setae, T2 has a narrow apical band of white setae, T3 is entirely covered with white setae, and the metasoma is black without a metallic hue. Body length 5 mm. MALE. Unknown.

Extended Diagnosis. FEMALE. Body length 5 mm. Coloration. Head black, except gena and frons reddened, and clypeus, mandible, scape, pedicel, and F1 largely orange-brown. Mesosoma and legs red-brown, femora and tibiae darkened apically. Metasoma black, except T1 and S1 partly reddened. Body setae generally sparse and silvery, except vertex and mesosomal dorsum with scattered silver and erect blackish setae; T2 disc, T4, and T5 setae dense black; and T2 apex, T3 entirely, and T6 with dense whitish silver setae. Head. Width behind eye 1.05 × mesosoma width. Frons, vertex, and gena punctures dense to confluent. Mandible apex bidentate. Clypeus with entire transverse lamella; basomedial portion with distinct smooth tubercle. Antennal scrobe with dorsal and lateral carina. Antennal tubercle smooth. Genal carina simple, connected with hypostomal carina. F1 1.6 × pedicel length, F2 1.6 × pedicel length. Mesosoma. Length 1.1 × width. Dorsum of mesosoma with coarse confluent punctures. Side of mesosoma with scattered micropunctures with short setae, ventral portion of meso- and metapleuron transversely striate. Mesopleural lamella absent. Humeral carina distinct. Ratio of width of humeral angle, anterior spiracle, midpoint of mesonotum, propodeal spiracle, and midpoint of propodeum 55:56:54:50:45. Scutellar scale indistinct, subtriangular. Posterior propodeal face reticulate. Lateral and posterior propodeal faces separated by wavy subdentate carina. Metatibio-tarsal ratio 26:10:8:5:4:3. Metasoma. Terga 1–5 with small dense punctures, sparser on T1, larger on T2. S1 with long simple longitudinal carina. T2 felt line 0.27 × T2 total length. T6 convex, apical half with indistinct lateral carina, mostly smooth. S6 posterior margin bidentate.

Material examined. Holotype ♀, VIETNAM, Quang Ninh, Island Dong Kho [21°06'N, 107°36'E], 20.III.1987, V. Kuznetsov (IBSS). Other Material (3 ♀). THAILAND: Chiang Mai, Omkoi District , Dry dipterocarp forest, 17°50′49.9″N 98°22′33.0″, 950–1010 m alt., 23.VI.2017, R. Mizuno (1♀ EUM); Phetchaburi, found in van during transit, 24.V.2018 (1♀ CSCA); VIETNAM, Vinh Phu, Tam Dao, 20.V.1995, E. Sugonyaev (1♀ ZISP).

Distribution. Malaysia (Pahang), Thailand * (Chiang Mai, Phetchaburi), Vietnam (Quang Ninh, Vinh Phuc).

Remarks. The unique Southern Thai specimen was found by NT on May 24; it was crawling on his leg in the van while we were travelling from Baan Maka in Phetchaburi to the Khao Sok area in Surat Thani. We suspect that this wasp crawled onto our luggage while we packed up collecting equipment in Baan Maka on May 23, 2018, but cannot be sure.

Figures

FIGURES 1–28. Mutillidae, dorsal habitus of females. Scale bars represent actual specimen length.

FIGURES 68–76. Mutillinae: Smicromyrmini females II. 68–70. Ephucilla viet; 71–76. Physetopoda thai. 68, 71–73. Habitus, dorsal view; 69, 74, 75. Habitus, lateral view; 70, 76. Face view.