Dasymutilla waco (Blake)

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 : 102

Dasymutilla waco (Blake)

Mutilla (Sphaeropthalma) Waco Blake, 1871 . Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 3:238. Holotype female, Texas [ANSP] (examined). Male description: Fox (1899:229).

Diagnosis of Female (Plate C9M). The mandible in this species is distinctly tridentate, unlike most other Dasymutilla . Also, the gena is not carinate, the mesosoma is as broad as long, and lacks a scutellar scale. Sternum II is merely punctate, not scabrous. Tergum II has a large, yellow macula, and the remainder of the integument is black.

Diagnosis of Male (Plate C9N). Like the female, the male has the mandible tridentate. Sternum II possesses a row of stiff setae that simulate a carina. No other Neotropical species of Dasymutilla shares this character. Tergum II has a yellow macula, and the pygidium possesses an apical fringe of setae.

Distribution. USA (New Mexico, Texas); Mexico (Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi).

Remarks. Both the female and male are known, and both have distinguishing characters that make them easy to identify. This is a moderately common species. Approximately 50 specimens of each sex have been examined, including that from which the male description was made.