Sphaeropthalma triangularis (Blake)

Pitts, James P., Wilson, Joseph S., Williams, Kevin A. & Boehme, Nicole F., 2010, Nocturnal velvet ant males (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Deep Canyon, California including four new species and a fifth new species from Owens Lake Valley, California, Zootaxa 2553, pp. 1-34 : 28

Sphaeropthalma triangularis (Blake)

Agama triangularis Blake, 1871 . Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 3: 262. Male. Holotype data: Nevada (ANSP).

Diagnosis of male. The male of this species is easily recognized by the triangular shaped posterior margin of the head, the weakly excised mandibles that are oblique apically ( Fig. 30 ), the lack of mesosternal processes, the lobe-like projections on the hind coxae, and the triangulate posterior projection of the apex of the hind tibia. The genitalia are illustrated by Pitts et al. (2009) in Fig. 26 .

Diagnosis of female. The female of this species was described in Pitts et al. (2009).

Material examined. California, Imperial Co. : Algodones dunes 7 mi. SE Glamis, 32°55’20”N 114°59’14”W, 1 female, 19.Mar.1979 – 24.Mar.1979 ( CDFA).

Distribution. Southwestern USA.

Remarks. Sphaeropthalma triangularis is widespread and not endemic to Deep Canyon. This species previously placed in its own species-group and was moved to Schuster’s S. rustica species-group by Pitts et al. (2009). Given that the addition of this species-group differs from that of Schuster (1958) with the addition of S. triangularis and exclusion of S. pluto and S. juxta , we chose to rename this the S. unicolor species-group. This species-group is further discussed in the remarks section of S. tetracuspis .

Figures

FIGURES 25 – 31. Head, anterior view. 25. Sphaeropthalma. megagnathos; 26. S. mendica; 27. S. pallida; 28. S. sublobata; 29. S. tetracuspis; 30. S. triangularis; and 31. S. yumaella.