Dasymutilla gloriosa ( de Saussure, 1868 )

Boehme, Nicole F., Tanner, David A., Williams, Kevin A. & Pitts, James P., 2012, Faunal study of velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) and their activity patterns and habitat preference at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nye County, Nevada, USA, Zootaxa 3587, pp. 1-45 : 10-11

Dasymutilla gloriosa ( de Saussure, 1868)

Mutilla gloriosa de Saussure, 1868: 359 ,

♀. Lectotype (designated by Mickel 1936): Baja California, Saunders ( MHNG).

Mutilla tecta Cresson, 1875: 119 ,

♀. Holotype: California, H. Edwards (ANSP).

Dasymutilla reperticia Mickel, 1928: 287 ,

3. Holotype: Arizona, Empire Mountains, 3 Jul 1924, A.A. Nichol (UMSP).

Diagnosis. MALE. The male of this species possesses black integument and the setae of the dorsum concolorous yellow to red, the posterior margin of head is extended medially, the anterior margin of pronotum is emarginate medially, and S2 has an oval pit filled with setae. FEMALE. The females of D. gloriosa are clothed entirely with white setae, have a thickened transverse carina anterior to the scutellar scale, have the mesosoma longer than broad, and have the pygidium rugose or rugo-striate, lacking raised and separated striae in the basal half.

Material examined. Type material. Lectotype of M. gloriosa : Baja California, Saunders ( MNHN) . Other material. Nevada, Nye Co., AMNWR: Non-dune site 4: 1 ♀, LT, 24. VI.09, 1 ♀, hand collected, 4–6.IX.2009, NFB ; Sand dune site 1: 1 ♀, PT, 30.X.2009, NFB & SDB, 1 ♀, PT, 20.XI.2009, NFB ; Sand dune site 2: 1 ♀, PT, 2–3.IX.2008, NFB ; Sand dune site 5: 1 ♀, 24.VI.2008, NFB, DAT & JPP, 1 ♀, PT, 17–18.X.2008, NFB & SDB ; Non-dune site 5: 1 ♀, PT, 17–18.X.2008, NFB & SDB, 1 ♀, net collected, 4. VIII.2009, 1 ♀, PT, 4–6.IX.2009, NFB ; Copeland site: 1 ♀, PT, 17–18.X.2008, NFB & SDB ; Spring meadows site: 1 ♀, PT, 2–3.IX.2008, NFB ; Mesquite site 1: 2 ♀, PT, 2–3.IX.2008, NFB, 3 ♀, PT, 17–18.X.2008, NFB & SDB ; Mesquite site 3: 1 ♀, PT, 2–3.IX.2008, NFB, 1 ♀, PT, 17–18.X.2008, NFB & SDB.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Texas and Utah), Mexico (Baja California Norte, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora).

Activity. No males were collected. Females were collected primarily in late summer and into late autumn (September through October 2008, August through November 2009). In both 2008 and 2009 a single female was collected in late June.

Remarks. Dasymutilla gloriosa were too rarely encountered to determine their habitat preference. Nineteen D. gloriosa females were collected from June through November via hand collecting, net collecting and pitfall traps. Seven female D. gloriosa females were found at the NTS from June through September via hand collecting and pitfall trapping ( Ferguson 1967, Allred 1973). Pitts et al. (2009) discussed the difficulty in distinguishing this species from other closely related Dasymutilla species.

Mickel (1928) stated that a syntype (referenced as the holotype) of D. gloriosa supposedly was in the Paris Museum, but that he was unable to find it. He subsequently (1936) found the only other syntype and designated it as a lectotype (so labeled) in the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, Geneva. Manley and Pitts (2007) located and examined both of these specimens and found them to be identical. Manley and Pitts (2007) referenced the specimen in the Paris Museum as the 'holotype', when, in fact, the specimen in the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle should be considered as the true type (lectotype) of this species and that in the Paris Museum is a paralectotype.