Tropidotilla milmili ( Magretti 1898 )

Lelej, Arkady S. & Harten, Antonius Van, 2006, A review of the Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) of Yemen, Zootaxa 1226, pp. 1-50 : 20-21

* Tropidotilla milmili ( Magretti 1898)

Diagnosis

The female of Tropidotilla milmili is similar to that of T. fimbriata in having similar color patterns and size. It can be distinguished from the latter species in having a differently shaped mesosoma (slightly widened posteriorly and length 1.15X its maximal width in T. fimbriata ), in having a well developed genal carina (weak in T. fimbriata ), in having narrow apical fringe on T2 (narrow band widened medially in T. fimbriata ), and in having a different shape and position of carina on S1 (weak carina located anteriorly in T. fimbriata ).

Description

FEMALE (hitherto unknown). Body length 5.2–6.0 mm. Head rounded behind eyes. Distance between posterior eye line and posterior headline 0.7X eye length. First flagellomere 1.6X flagellomere 2. Genal carina well developed and connected to hypostomal carina, latter widened at this point. Mesosoma slightly narrow posteriorly, length 1.3X its maximal width. Scutellar scale well developed. Metasoma elongated. T1 transversal with distinct dorsal surface delimited anteriorly by serrate carina and posteriorly by narrow band of yellowish pubescence. S1 with triangular carina in median part. Head, antennae, mesosoma and legs ferruginous­red, metasoma black. T2–T5 with apical fringes of yellowish setae.

Material examined

Yemen: 12 km NW Manakhah, 3.VII–21.VIII.2001, MT, AvH, 2 Ψ 8 ɗ [ RMNH, IBSS]; 24.VI–4.VIII.2003, MT, AvH, 1 Ψ [ RMNH]; 15.IX–22.X.2003, MT, AvH, 2 ɗ [ RMNH, IBSS]; Lahj, 17.V–15.VI.2000, MT, AvH & A. Sallam, 1 ɗ [ RMNH]; IV.2001, MT, AvH & A. Sallam, 1 ɗ [ RMNH];

Distribution

Yemen (new record), Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania (Bischoff 1920).

Remarks

The described female is associated with the male of T. milmili because both sexes were collected at the same locality at the same time and have a similar carina on S1. Tribe Smicromyrmini Bischoff 1920

This tribe is the taxonomically most difficult of the Afrotropical fauna. Bischoff (1920–1921) placed 90 Afrotropical species in the genus Smicromyrme , that currently belong to many genera. In the last two decades ASL described 11 genera and three subgenera in the tribe Smicromyrmini from the Palaearctic and Oriental regions ( Lelej 1985, 1995, 2005). We include here the species from the genera Dentilla Lelej , Paglianotilla gen. nov., and Rasnitsynitilla gen. nov. In addition, we recognize more than 10 species from the genera Physetopoda Schuster 1949 , Smicromyrme Thomson 1870 , and Ephucilla Lelej 1995 . The identification of these species requires the revision of the Afrotropical species placed in the genus Smicromyrme .