Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875 )

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 : 30

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3587.1.1

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:91FCB387-5D4F-4F12-ABDC-B06D7F60A271

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5627552

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038187E5-1615-FFB4-FF09-EC45FA2CFB39

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875 )
status

 

Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875)

( Fig. 18)

Mutilla Edwardsii Cresson, 1875: 119 ,

3. Holotype: Oregon (ANSP).

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii edwardsii: Schuster 1958: 36 , 3.

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii flammifera Schuster, 1958: 36 ,

3. Holotype: California, Antioch (UMSP).

Diagnosis. MALE. The male of S. edwardsii can be separated from all other Sphaeropthalma species by its coloration. The pubescence varies from yellow to scarlet, while the integumental coloration varies from orange to piceous and the wings are dark brown to black. This species also has the following unique combination of characters. The mandible is diagnostic being moderately dilated, distally little or scarcely wider than at tooth, the ventral basal tooth of the mandible is small, and the apex is vertical ( Fig. 18). Also, the clypeus is moderately depressed below the dorsal mandibular margin, the sternal felt line is absent, and the genitalic morphology is unique (see Pitts 2006: Figs 8–10 View FIGURES 2 – 11 ). FEMALE. The female of this species is easily recognized by the unique combination of characters: a small ventral angulation is located basally on the mandible, but the mandible the lacks a dorsal tooth at the termination of the dorsal carina, metasomal segment 1 distinctly petiolate with the second segment, the pygidium is granulate, plumose setae are present especially on the fringes of the metasomal tergites, and the dorsum is covered in dense long yellow setae that obscures the integumental sculpturing.

Material examined. Type material. Holotypes: M. edwardsii : Oregon ( ANSP) ; S. edwardsii flammifera : California, Antioch, 14 September 1941, J.R. Fisher ( UMSP) . Other material. Nevada, Nye Co., AMNWR: Nondune site 5: 1 ♀, PT, 8.VII.2008, NFB & DAT.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon).

Activity. No males were collected. One female was collected in early July 2008.

Remarks. Sphaeropthalma edwardsii were too rarely encountered to determine their habitat preference. Only one S. edwardsii female was collected in July in a pitfall trap. Sphaeropthalma edwardsii was not found at the NTS.

ANSP

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

UMSP

University of Minnesota Insect Collection

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Mutillidae

Genus

Sphaeropthalma

Loc

Sphaeropthalma edwardsii ( Cresson, 1875 )

Boehme, Nicole F., Tanner, David A., Williams, Kevin A. & Pitts, James P. 2012
2012
Loc

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii edwardsii:

Schuster 1958: 36
1958
Loc

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) edwardsii flammifera

Schuster 1958: 36
1958
Loc

Mutilla Edwardsii Cresson, 1875: 119

Cresson 1875: 119
1875
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