Dasymutilla zoster Manley & Pitts, 2007

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 : 105-106

Dasymutilla zoster Manley & Pitts , new species

Holotype female, Mexico, Oaxaca, 23 mi S. Matias Romero, IV-8-62, L. A. Stange [ UCDC].

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C10C). This species is differentiated from others by the following combination of characters. It has the integument entirely black. The head is quadrate, and distinctly narrower than the mesosoma. The antennal scrobe is distinctly carinate dorsally, and a genal carina is present. The mesosoma is longer than broad and lacks a scutellar scale. The pygidium is rugose.

Description. Female: Length, 12 mm. Head. Black, quadrate, clothed entirely with dense yellow setae; mandible acute at apex, with inconspicuous inner tooth about 0.25X distance from apex; clypeus small, convex, broadly emarginate medially; scape strongly carinate, smooth and shining, clothed with sparse yellow setae; flagellomere I about 2X as long as remaining flagellomeres; antennal scrobe distinctly carinate; gena conspicuously carinate; head with coarse contiguous punctures, but much of sculpture concealed by dense setae; head distinctly narrower than mesosoma, head width 2.3–2.4 mm, about 0.75 width of mesosoma.

Mesosoma. Black, slightly longer than broad (3.0– 3.4 mm wide X 3.4–3.7 mm long), with coarse contiguous punctures throughout, except mesoplueron smooth; scutellar scale absent; anterior margin evenly transverse, not emarginate medially; mesosoma with triangular pattern of dense black setae medially, completely surrounded by yellow setae.

Legs black, with yellow setae.

Metasoma. Black, smooth and shining, with shallow contiguous punctures, sculpture mostly concealed by dense setae; pygidium rugose; sternum I with blunt carina about 0.5X length of segment; tergum I with apical fringe of yellow setae, and long erect sparse yellow setae; setal pattern of terga II to III such as to form two opposing bilobed patterns of black setae surrounded by yellow; terga IV to V with dense yellow setae, V to VI with dense black setae; sternum with sparse erect yellow setae and apical fringes of yellow setae, except last sternum with black setae.

Male. Unknown.

Paratypes. 2♀, MEXICO, Oaxaca, 10 mi SE Tapanatepec, VIII-8-63, F. D. Parker and L. A. Stange ( DGMC); Chiapas, Municipio La Trinitaria , 16 km SE of La Trinitaria, XI-2-76, D. E. and J. A. Breedlove ( CASC) .

Distribution. Mexico (Chiapas, Oaxaca).

Etymology. From the Latin, meaning “belt, girdle,” referring to the setal pattern of tergum II.

Remarks. This species is known only from the female. It keys easily after couplet #2. The mesosoma is slightly longer than broad, with a circle of black setae on the dorsum. There is a bilobed pattern of black setae on tergum II anteriorly. The setae are contrasting yellow/orange and black. This species resembles D. canina and D. jalisco , but differs in having the mesosoma longer than broad.