Ephuta scrupea ( Say, 1836 )

Williams, Kevin A., 2023, Taxonomic updates for diurnal velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America, Zootaxa 5301 (1), pp. 105-123 : 113

Ephuta scrupea ( Say, 1836)

Mutilla (Ephuta) scrupea Say, 1836: 297 , ♁.

Ephuta tentativa Schuster, 1951: 29 , ♀. New synonym.

Ephuta pauxilla Bradley : Pitts & Manley, 2007: 342, ♁. Misidentification.

Material examined. USA., Oklahoma, Latimer County, VII.1990, K. Stephen (1 mating pair, EMUS). I examined over 200 additional specimens of E. scrupea (CASC, CSCA, EMUS, FSCA, TAMU, UCDC, UMMZ, UMSP) and 24 females of E. tentativa (EMUS, UMMZ, UMSP) .

Distribution. USA (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin).

Remarks. Pitts and Manley (2007) associated E. tentativa , known from females only, with E. pauxilla , known from males only, based on a mating pair from Oklahoma. Males of E. pauxilla and E. scrupea are similar in sculpture, coloration and distribution and can only be reliably separated by clypeal morphology ( Schuster 1951). On first observation, the male in the mating pair from Oklahoma ( Pitts & Manley 2007) was grasping the female’s head in its mandibles and the clypeus was not observable. The mating pair was then re-hydrated and separated for observation of the clypeus, which revealed that the male was actually E. scrupea . Ephuta tentativa is transferred from its previous synonymy under E. pauxilla to E. scrupea . It differs from the previously recognized females of E. scrupea by eye size only ( Schuster 1951), revealing that this feature is subject to intraspecific variation in Ephuta . The true female of E. pauxilla remains unknown.