Dasymutilla gorgon ( Blake, 1871 )

Williams, Kevin A., 2023, Taxonomic updates for diurnal velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America, Zootaxa 5301 (1), pp. 105-123 : 110

Dasymutilla gorgon ( Blake, 1871)

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) Gorgon (sic) Blake, 1871: 233, ♀.

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) Zelaya (sic) Blake, 1871: 234, ♁. New synonym.

Mutilla Tisiphone (sic) Blake, 1879: 249, ♀.

Dasymutilla gorgons (sic): Ashmead 1899: 60, misspelling.

Dasymutilla perilla Mickel, 1928: 300 , ♁.

Dasymutilla perilla var. gentilicia Mickel, 1928: 301 , ♁.

Material examined. I examined over 80 males previously identified as D. zelaya and 230 females of D. gorgon (CASC, EMUS, FMNH, FSCA, PMNH, UCDC, UMMZ, UMSP) .

Distribution. USA (Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas).

Remarks. Fox (1899) associated a female with D. zelaya but did not provide any evidence supporting this association. Subsequent authors doubted the validity of the association (e.g. Mickel 1928). Although males and females of D. zelaya have been found together in various localities in Texas and New Mexico (where they also cooccur with D. gorgon ), no males of D. zelaya have been found in Arizona, even though females are common there. Females of D. zelaya are structurally similar to D. vestita (similar mandible shape, antennal scrobe, mesosoma shape and pygidium sculpture) and differ from that species in mesosomal setal color only (dorsally black in D. zelaya and yellow to reddish in D. vestita ). Males of D. zelaya , however, differ from D. vestita in numerous features, including the axilla, hypopygium and genitalia. In Arizona, females of D. zelaya have been frequently collected alongside males of D. vestita and some females exhibit intermediate coloration between D. zelaya and D. vestita (see below). The female previously associated with D. zelaya is a synonymous color variant of D. vestita . With the disassociation of females from males, D. zelaya is now known from males only.

Manley et al. (2020) recently recognized the male of D. gorgon (formerly D. perilla ). Males of D. gorgon (formerly called D. perilla ) and D. zelaya overlap in distribution and are separated only by the setal color of T2, mostly black in D. zelaya and largely orange in D. gorgon . This color feature has been revealed to be variable within many species, including D. gloriosa ( Figs 11–14 and Williams & Manley 2006). Males of D. zelaya have frequently been collected in the same localities as females of D. gorgon (e.g. Mickel 1928) and they have similar size and coloration to the females. Dasymutilla zelaya is a junior synonym of D. gorgon .

Figures

FIGURES 11–16. Dasymutilla gloriosa (Saussure, 1868) and D. pseudopappus (Cockerell, 1895). 11–14. D. gloriosa, lateral habitus, male. 15, 16. Pygidial plate illustration, female. 11. Inyo County, California; head and mesosoma setae entirely black, formerly D. chisos Mickel, 1928. 12. Kern County, California; head and mesosoma setae mostly black, mesoscutellum with orange setae. 13. San Bernardino County, California; head setae black, mesosoma setae orange dorsally. 14. Sonora, Mexico; head and mesosoma with orange dorsal setae. 15. D. gloriosa. 16. D. pseudopappus.