Odontophotopsis armata Schuster

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 : 6-7

Odontophotopsis armata Schuster

Odontophotopsis (Odontophotopsis) armata Schuster, 1958 . Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 60. Male. Neotype data: California, Riverside Co.: Deep Canyon, 15 males, 23–24.May.2007, Coll. Wilson, Williams and Pitts (EMUS).

Diagnosis of male. This species can be recognized by the presence of mesosternal processes, a deeply emarginate, tridentate, mandible that is slightly oblique apically ( Fig. 4 ), and a distinct tubercle located medial on the posterior margin of the clypeus, while usually lacking a sternal felt line. In many of the specimens from Deep Canyon a trace of a sternal felt line is present, but it is defined by little more than a small cluster of micropunctures.

Female. Unknown.

Material examined. California, Riverside Co.: Deep Canyon, 15 males, 22–23.May.2007, 45 males, 23– 24. May.2007, 1 male, 11. Jul.1971, 1 male, 13–18. Jul.1969, 1 male, 19–20. Jul.1969, 1 male, 24. Aug.1969, 1 male, 9–11. Sep.1969, 8 males, 26.Sep–6. Oct.1969, 1 male, 6–8. Oct.1969, 3 male, 9. Oct.1963, 1 male, 11.Nov.1963.

Distribution. The western Sonoran Desert of California and Baja California, Mexico and the Mojave Desert.

Remarks. This species can be sometimes confused with O. serca , from which it only can be separated by the presence of the clypeal tubercle. These two species are genetically distinct, however (e.g., Pitts et al. 2010). This species often has a trace of sternal felt line made up of short, dense, plumose setae and occasionally associated micropunctures.

Schuster (1958) validated this species in a key, but did not designate a holotype or type locality ( Ferguson 1967). As such, we are designating a Neotype for this species. Schuster (1958) placed this species in the O. serca species-group due to the deeply emarginate ventral margin of the mandible and the absence of sternal felt lines. This species differs from O. serca in having a tuberculate clypeus, which is lacking in O. serca , and mandibles that are oblique apically. Also, the apices of the mandibles are vertical in O. serca . Both of these characters should be used together, because the tuberculate aspect of the clypeus is sometimes difficult to see. Pitts et al. (2010) established that O. armata and O. serca are not closely related. A species-group housing O. armata should be delineated, but this is best left for a future revision of Odontophotopsis .

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 12. Head, anterior view. 1. Acanthophotopsis falciformis; 2. Acrophotopsis campylognatha; 3. Odontophotopsis acmaea; 4. O. armata; 5. O. aufidia; 6. O. bellona; 7. O. biramosa; 8. O. clypeata; 9. O. inconspicua; 10. O. mamata; 11. O. melicausa; and 12. O. quadrispinosa.