Sphaeropthalma arota (Cresson)

Pitts, James P., Wilson, Joseph S., Williams, Kevin A. & Boehme, Nicole F., 2010, Nocturnal velvet ant males (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Deep Canyon, California including four new species and a fifth new species from Owens Lake Valley, California, Zootaxa 2553, pp. 1-34 : 15

Sphaeropthalma arota (Cresson)

Mutilla Arota Cresson, 1875 . Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 5: 120. Female. Holotype data: San Diego, California, G.R. Crotch, Type no. 1873 (UMSP).

Mutilla helicaon Fox, 1899 . Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 25: 254. Male. Holotype data: Nevada, Type no. 4642 (UMSP).

Photopsis lingulatus Viereck, 1903. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., Proc. 54: 737. Male. Holotype data: La Jolla, San Diego Co., California (UMSP).

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) carinata Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. 37: 34. Male. Holotype data: Purissima, Baja California (NMNH).

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) helicaon coahuilae Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. 37: 34. Male. Holotype lost.

Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) helicaon diegueno Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. 37: 35. Male. Holotype data: S. Carlos, Arizona, 12–13 May 1918, J. Ch. Bradley (CUIC).

Diagnosis of male. This species is easily recognized by the weak excision and slight angulate tooth on the ventral margin of the mandible ( Fig. 18 ), which is oblique apically, the clypeus carinate at base, but sometimes delicately so or gibbous ( Fig. 18 ), the lack of mesosternal processes or a sternal felt line, and the ventral margin of the paramere with dense setae that are directed inward toward the cuspis (see Fig. 100 in Pitts et al. 2009).

Diagnosis of female. Pitts et al. (2009) diagnosed the female of this species.

Material examined. California, Riverside Co., Deep Canyon: 1 male, 23–24. May.2007, 4 males, 3– 7. Jul.1969, 1 male, 21.Jul.1970, coll. W. MacKay.

Distribution. From the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas west to the Sonoran Desert of California and north into the Mojave Desert.

Remarks. Preliminary molecular data, which will be published elsewhere, suggests that this species may actually be a group of four sibling species.

Figures

FIGURES 13 – 24. Head, anterior view; except ventral view 17. 13. Odontophotopsis serca; 14. O. setifera; 15. Sphaeropthalma. amphion; 16. S. angulifera; 17. S. angulifera; 18. S. arota; 19. S. becki; 20. S. blakeii; 21. S. difficilis; 22. S. ferruginea; 23. S. ignacio; and 24. S. macswaini.