Quwitilla bellatrix ( Manley & Pitts 2007 ) Bartholomay & Williams & Cambra & Oliveira, 2019

Bartholomay, Pedro R., Williams, Kevin A., Cambra, To. A. & Oliveira, Márcio L., 2019, Does the genus Dasymutilla Ashmead occur in South America? The new genus Quwitilla, new combinations, and new distribution records from Neotropical velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), Zootaxa 4623 (2), pp. 261-282 : 273

Quwitilla bellatrix ( Manley & Pitts 2007) , comb. nov.

( Figs 32–33 )

Dasymutilla bellatrix Manley & Pitts, 2007 , Zootaxa, 1487: 29, Holotype ♀, Ecuador (DGMC).

Diagnosis. Female. Head narrower than mesosoma, T2 with posteriorly bilobate area of black setae on anterior third, fringe of T2 with black setae medially and silvery-white setae laterally.

Distribution. Ecuador.

Material examined. ECUADOR, Guayas, 1♀, 2 km SE Sabanilla. 08. III.2003, F.T. Hovore ( CASC) ; El Oro, 1♀, 3 km S. Arenilla, 50m, 26.II.2002, D. Curoe ( MIUP) .

Remarks. This rare species, previously known from the holotype only, was fully described and is easily recognized by color and distribution. Although we were unable to study the holotype, the second and third known specimens are reliably consistent with the description and photographs provided by Manley & Pitts (2007). Manley & Pitts (2007) made no remarks regarding Quwitilla bellatrix (then Dasymutilla bellatrix ) except that it was similar to Q. blattoserica (then D. blattoserica ). Quwitilla bellatrix is indeed morphologically closer to Q. blattoserica than to Q. peruviana and might in fact be a color variant, and therefore a synonym, of the latter. We refrain from calling it so for the moment based on the limited material available from diurnal species of Mutillidae west of the Andes, their apparently disparate ranges, and the fact that we have yet to see an intermediate color form between these species.

Figures

FIGURES 32–33. Quwitilla bellatrix (Manley & Pitts, 2007), ♀, lines 2mm; 32. Dorsal view; 33. Lateral view.