Pseudomethoca wickhami ( Cockerell & Casad, 1895 )

Williams, Kevin A., 2023, Taxonomic updates for diurnal velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America, Zootaxa 5301 (1), pp. 105-123 : 120

Pseudomethoca wickhami ( Cockerell & Casad, 1895)

Sphaerophthalma (sic) wickhami Cockerell & Casad, 1895: 297 , ♀.

Pseudomethoca (Nomiaephagus) vanduzei Bradley, 1916: 321 , ♁. New synonym.

Pseudomethoca fattigi Mickel, 1938: 147 , ♀.

Material examined. I examined 93 specimens of P. vanduzei (CASC, CNCI, CSCA, EMUS, FSCA, TAMU, UCDC, UMMZ, UMSP) and 5 females of P. wickhami (CASC, CSCA, EMUS, UMSP) .

Distribution. USA (Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia).

Remarks. Pseudomethoca wickhami was considered a rare species, being known in the literature apparently only from the type and one additional specimen ( Mickel, 1924). The female of P. vanduzei , originally named P. fattigi , was associated by Krombein (1951) in a catalog without further comments or justification. Males of this species are charismatic and easily recognized by their bright golden tergal setae and females were readily recognized by their undefined pygidium and unique color pattern of T2 (marked with two pale orange lateral spots and with one anteromesal and one posteromesal silver setal patch). In a study on Müllerian mimicry systems in North America, Wilson et al. (2015) analyzed two color variants of P. vanduzei females, one with a reddish metasoma in the Eastern USA and one with a blackish metasoma in the Central USA. The darker central form of P. vanduzei perfectly fits the description of P. wickhami and is the only sparsely setose medium-bodied Pseudomethoca species seen in Texas with a predominantly black metasoma. Pseudomethoca wickhami is the older name and is here recognized as a senior synonym of P. vanduzei , syn. nov.