Dasymutilla stevensii Mickel

MANLEY, DONALD G. & PITTS, JAMES P., 2007, Tropical and Subtropical Velvet Ants of the Genus Dasymutilla Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) with Descriptions of 45 New Species, Zootaxa 1487 (1), pp. 1-128 : 93-94

Dasymutilla stevensii Mickel

Dasymutilla stevensii Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:99. Holotype female, Medora , North Dakota, August 3, 1923 (O. A. Stevens) [UMSP] (examined).

Dasymutilla medora Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:101. Holotype male, Medora North Dakota, August 3, 1923 (O. A. Stevens) [UMSP] (examined). Synonymy: Mickel (1936a:44).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C8L). This species can be recognized by its coloration and several structural characteristics. The antennal scrobe of this female appears to be very weakly carinate. A genal carina is absent. The mesosoma is longer than broad, and lacks a scutellar scale. The dorsum is concolorous and clothed with dense orange setae.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C8M). A key character of the male is that the tegula is finely, setigerously punctate throughout. Also, the male lacks a pit on sternum II, while the pygidium possesses an apical fringe of setae. The integument is entirely black. The dorsum of the head, mesosoma, and metasomal segments III through VI are clothed with concolorous, orange setae.

Host Identity. Diadasia australis (Cresson) ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ( Tepedino and Pitts 2003).

Distribution. USA (Iowa, North Dakota, south to Texas, west to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah); Mexico (Chihuahua, Guanajuato, Sinaloa); a single specimen bears a collection label of California.

Remarks. This species is known from both sexes. The female keys easily, except that the antennal scrobes are weakly carinate. If one were to err at couplet #77 and determine the antennal scrobes to be ecarinate, they would proceed to couplet #79 ( D. lachesis and D. nigripes ). The concolorous dense, orange setae easily distinguish it from the other two species. The male keys easily due to the setigerously punctate tegula. The female is relatively common in collections, and several hundred specimens have been examined. The male is less commonly collected, and only several dozen specimens have been examined.