Invreiella megacantha ( Cockerell & Casad, 1894 )

Waldren, George C., Williams, Kevin A., Cambra, Roberto A. & Pitts, James P., 2020, Systematic revision of the North American velvet ant genus Invreiella Suárez (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) with description of eleven new species, Zootaxa 4894 (2), pp. 151-205 : 199-200

15. Invreiella megacantha ( Cockerell & Casad, 1894) , stat. resurr.

Sphaerophthalma [sic] megacantha Cockerell & Casad, 1894: 294 [holotype ♀ (MADUG – lost)]. Cameron 1895: 365; Cock-erell 1895: 60. Junior subjective synonym of Pseudomethoca cardinalis ( Gerstaecker, 1874) according to Mickel 1964: 166.

- Mutilla megacantha: Dalla Torre 1897: 60 .

- Ephuta (Ephuta) megacantha: André 1902: 61 .

Cockerell & Casad (1894) described two new species of Mutillidae based on material collected in Guanajuato, Mexico by Alfredo Dugès: Sphaerophthalma [sic] dugesii Cockerell & Casad and S. megacantha Cockerell & Casad. Shortly after, two additional species, S. prunotincta Cockerell and S. rufosuffusa Cockerell & Casad , were also described from material collected by Dugès in Guanajuato (Cockerell 1895; Cockerell & Casad 1895). The holotypes of S. dugesii , S. megacantha , S. prunotincta , and S. rufosuffusa have been considered lost for some time ( Mickel 1928, 1964; Suárez 1966; Manley & Pitts 2007). Despite not having located and examined the holotype of S. megacantha, Mickel (1964) synonymized this species under Pseudomethoca cardinalis (Gerstaecker) .

We sought to locate these four lost holotypes with the hunch that Cockerell and Casad may have returned the material to Dugès in Guanajuato, Mexico. Mr. Néstor Quezadas Tapia at the Museo de Historia Natural Alfredo Dugès ( MADUG) kindly searched for these four type specimens and provided photographs to confirm their identity. The type of S. rufosuffusa was discovered (label: “ Sphaeropthalma / rufosuffusa , / Type. ”), as well as a specimen of S. dugesii that is not labeled as a type but could potentially be it (label: “ Sphaerophthalma / Dugesi, Ckll ♀.”). A specimen of S. prunotincta was also found but it lacks labels; this could be the type based on its match with Cockerell’s original description, the apparent age of the specimen, and the appearance of the pin. It is worth noting that André (1898) mentioned that he examined the type of S. prunotincta through A. Dugès. No specimens labeled as S. megacantha were located at MADUG.

Based on the original description of S. megacantha by Cockerell & Casad (1894), it is likely a member of Invreiella ; however, there is not enough information to determine with certainty its species-level identity. Due to the unexpected diversity of Invreiella discovered during the course of this study, we here treat I. megacantha , stat. resurr., as a nomen dubium with the hope that type material will eventually surface. It is possible that I. megacantha is indeed a synonym of I. cardinalis , as A. Dugès’ brother, Eugenio Dugès, collected a female of I. cardinalis in Guanajuato; this specimen is housed at RBINS. As for the other three types, Manley & Pitts (2007) designated a neotype for S. dugesii , a species that is now considered a synonym of Dasymutilla foxi (Cockerell, 1894) ( Pilgrim et al. 2008) . The species S. prunotincta was synonymized under Mutilla (Ephuta) sicheliana Saussure, 1867 (= Dasymutilla sicheliana ) by André (1898). Lastly, the species S. rufosuffusa is likely a synonym of Dasymutilla formosa ( Blake, 1871) .