Dasymutilla satanas Mickel, 1928

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 : 86

Dasymutilla satanas Mickel

Dasymutilla satanas Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:239. Holotype female, Bill Williams Fork, Arizona, August (F. H. Snow) [SEMC] (examined).

Dasymutilla mimula Mickel, 1928 . U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 143:255. Holotype male, California (No. 40744) [USNM] (examined).

Diagnosis of Female. This species can be recognized by its coloration and several structural characteristics. The female is large and conspicuous. The antennal scrobe is strongly carinate dorsally. The gena is not carinate, although at certain angles is may appear to be so. The posterolateral angle of the head is not tuberculate. The mesosoma is longer than broad, and possesses a scutellar scale. The integument is entirely black. The dorsum is concolorous, clothed with long orange setae. The apical fringes of the sterna are yellowish to orange, like the dorsum.

Diagnosis of Male. The male can be recognized by the following combination of characters: the antennal scrobe is strongly carinate dorsally, a median pit is present on sternum II, the pygidium lacks an apical fringe of setae, and by coloration. The integument is entirely black. The setae of the head and mesosoma, including the legs, are black, while the metasoma is clothed with red setae from the apical half of tergum II posteriorly.

Distribution. USA (Arizona, California, Nevada); Mexico (Baja California Norte and Sur, Nuevo Leon).

Remarks. This is a large and conspicuous species. Due to the punctation, at certain angles the gena may appear to be carinate, even though it is not. If an error were made at couplet #43, this species would key to D. magna . However, D. magna has the gena strongly carinate and has pale setae on the legs. About 50 female specimens and about a dozen male specimens have been examined.