Mickelomyrme puttasoki Williams, 2019

Williams, Kevin A., Lelej, Arkady S., Okayasu, Juriya, Borkent, Christopher J., Malee, Rufeah, Thoawan, Kodeeyah & Thaochan, Narit, 2019, The female velvet ants (aka modkhong) of southern Thailand (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), with a key to the genera of southeast Asia, Zootaxa 4602 (1), pp. 1-69 : 20-21

9d. Mickelomyrme puttasoki Williams , sp. nov.

( Figs 86–91 )

Diagnosis. FEMALE. This species can be separated from other Mickelomyrme by having a triangular pygidium with many striae reaching the apical margin. The following traits are also useful for diagnosis: the pronotum has an anteromedial black patch dorsally; the mesonotum has anterolateral patches of dense white setae; the mesosoma has a transverse sulcus anterior and posterior to the wide arcuate scutellar scale; the T2 apex has black setae only; the T3 and T4 setal bands have orange-brown cuticle beneath them; and T4 has lateral patches of dense whitish setae. Body length 3.5–5.5 mm. MALE. Unknown.

Description. FEMALE. Body length 5.5 mm. Coloration. Head black, except antennal tubercle, malar space, clypeus, mandible, scape, pedicel, F1, and base of F2–8 largely orange-brown. Mesosoma and legs orange-brown, except pronotum dorsomedially, femoral and tibial apices, and tarsi brown to black. Metasoma black, except T1, S1, areas beneath dense white setal patches of T2–4, most of S2, and S6 medially reddened. Body setae generally sparse and silvery, except frons and mesosomal dorsum with scattered golden and erect blackish setae; T2 disc, T2 apex, and T3–5 medially setae dense black; anterolateral patch on mesonotum, T2 disc lateral ovate spot, and T3–4 laterally with dense whitish silver setae; and T2 basomedial spot pale golden. Head. Width behind eye subequal to mesosoma width. Frons, vertex, and gena punctures large, mostly separated. Mandible apex apparently unidentate. Clypeus with transverse entire carina; basomedial portion with narrow v-shaped tooth-like carina. Antennal scrobe with dorsal carina basally, obliterated laterally. Antennal tubercle smooth. Genal carina obliterated. F1 1.6 × pedicel length, F2 1.4 × pedicel length. Mesosoma. Length 1.1 × width. Dorsum of mesosoma with coarse confluent punctures. Side of mesosoma with scattered micropunctures with short setae, ventral portion of meso- and metapleuron obscured by dense setae, propodeal side mostly smooth. Mesopleural lamella absent. Humeral carina obliterated dorsally. Ratio of width of humeral angle, anterior spiracle, narrowest point of mesonotum, propodeal spiracle, and widest point of propodeum 62:69:58:62:63. Scutellar scale transverse arculate, ~7 punctures wide, with transverse wavy carina anterior and posterior to scale. Posterior propodeal face reticulate. Lateral and posterior propodeal faces not separated by carina. Metatibio-tarsal ratio 55:26:15:12:10:9. Metasoma. Terga 1–5 with small dense punctures, sparser on T1. S1 with simple longitudinal carina. T2 felt line 0.45 × T2 total length. T6 with broad triangular pygidium, narrowing to apex; with posteriorly diverging striae (~25 near base), most reaching posterior margin. S6 posterior margin narrow emarginate.

Material examined. Holotype ♀, THAILAND, Kanchanaburi, Thong Pha Phum, Vimarndin farm stay, 14.655 o N 98.521 o E, 200 m, 17–20.V.2018, MKT (1♀ CSCA). Paratypes (9 ♀), THAILAND, Kanchanaburi: Sai Yok, Prasat Mueang Sing Park , 14.040 o N 99.243 o E, 50 m, 19.V.2018, MKT (2♀ CSCA); Same data as Holotype (7♀ CSCA) .

Distribution. Thailand (Kanchanaburi).

Etymology. This species is named for the expedition’s driver and fellow modkhong collector, Somphong Puttasok. Treat as a noun in apposition.

Remarks. In having the white anterolateral mesonotal setal patches, this species is similar to M. athalia and M. bicristata . The shared tendency of M. athalia and M. puttasoki to have the median T2 spot obliterated makes them even more difficult to separate. The pygidium of M. puttasoki , however, is very different from all other Mickelomyrme, being broadly triangular with dense nearly complete striae ( Fig. 91 ). This species varies in color; the vertex, the mesosomal sides, the posterior propodeal face, and S2 can vary from entirely black, to extensively darkened brown, to entirely orange-brown ( Figs 86–90 ).

Figures

FIGURES 86–94. Mutillinae: Smicromyrmini females IV. 86–91. Mickelomyrme puttasoki, sp. nov.; 92–94. M. kinguri, sp. nov. 86, 89, 90, 92. Habitus, dorsal view; 87, 91, 93. Habitus, lateral view; 88, 94. T6.