Sphaeropthalma angulifera Schuster, 1958

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 : 25-26

Sphaeropthalma angulifera Schuster, 1958

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) angulifera Schuster, 1958: 32 , 3. Holotype: California, Kern County, Bakersfield (CASC).

Diagnosis. MALE. The male of this species can be recognized by having mandibles that are weakly excised ventrally with a distinct angulate basal tooth and an apex that is tridentate and oblique, but most importantly the dorsal carina of the mandible is angulate at the midpoint of the mandible coinciding with the ventral tooth (see Pitts et al. 2010a: Fig. 54), the posterior margin of the head is quadrate, the mesosternum lacks processes, the second metasomal sternite has a distinct felt line, and the pygidium is granulate. The genitalia also help to diagnose this species; the cuspis is a uniform diameter from the base to the apex (see Pitts et al. 2010a: Fig. 53). FEMALE. The female of this species can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: the dorsum of the body is covered with moderately dense erect pale golden brachyplumose setae that do not obscure the integument; the ventral margin of the mandible has a slight excision followed by a distinct angulate tooth and lacks a dorsal tooth at the termination of the dorsal carina; the head below the eyes widens towards the mandibular insertions; the first metasomal segment is sessile with the second; the pygidium is granulate; and the apical margins of the tergites have dense fringes of white plumose setae.

Material examined. Type material. Holotype of S. angulifera : California, Kern County, Bakersfield ( CASC) . Other material. Nevada, Nye Co., AMNWR: Non-dune site 5: 1 ♀, PT, 8. VII.2008, 1 ♀, PT, 22.VII.2008, NFB & DAT ; Copeland site: 1 ♀, PT, 24.VI.2008, NFB, DAT & JPP ; Mesquite site 1: 1 ♀, PT, 8.VII.2008, NFB & DAT ; Mesquite site 2: 1 ♀, PT, 24.VI.2008, NFB, DAT & JPP.

Distribution. USA (California and Nevada).

Activity. No males were collected. Females were collected in early through mid-summer (late June through July 2008).

Remarks. Sphaeropthalma angulifera were too rarely encountered to determine their habitat preference. Five S. angulifera females were collected from late June through July in pitfall traps. Nine female and twelve male S. angulifera were found at the NTS via pitfall traps ( Ferguson 1967, Allred 1973). Female were found from May through July and males were found from late June through early September.

Sphaeropthalma angulifera is morphologically similar to S. unicolor and S. mendica , but can be differentiated from these two species by mandibular morphology ( Wilson & Pitts 2009). Although this species is found throughout the Mojave and western Sonoran deserts, it is extremely rare. Wilson and Pitts (2009) diagnosed the female based on associations made from similarities of the female to that of S. mendica and distributional data.