Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900

Lelej, Arkady S., Williams, Kevin A., Terine, Joshua B., Okayasu, Juriya, Parikh, Grishma R. & Kumar, Girish P., 2023, Review of the tribe Mutillini (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) from the Oriental Region, Zootaxa 5228 (4), pp. 455-476 : 467-468

Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900

( Figs 1–4 )

Mutilla mikado Cameron, 1900 ; 75, ♀, type locality [“ Japan ”]

Mutilla rugiceps maesta Chen, 1957: 151 , ♀, holotype, ♀, Kirin [Heilongjiang], Kaolintze [Gaolinzi], 16.vi.1940 [Heude Museum, Shanghai (now Shanghai Entomological Museum, Chinese Academy of Sciences)]. Junior subjective synonym of M. mikado according to Lelej 1985: 161.

Mutilla europaea: Su et al. 2019: 104 , parasite of Bombus breviceps ( China: Yunnan). Misidentification.

Material examined. RUSSIA: * Kuril Islands, SW Kunashir, Ivanovskij Cape , 28– 29.09.2013, Yu. & L. Sundukov, 2♀ [ IBSS] . CHINA: * Sichuan, 35 km W Zhangle , 3620–3720 m, 12–13.VII.2001, S. Murzin, 1♀ [ IBSS] ; * Shaanxi, S of Huaxian, SE Damingzhen, Huashan Mts. , 2010–2155 m, 24.V.2009, I. Belousov & I. Kabak, 1♀ [ IBSS] .

Distribution. Russia: Eastern Siberia (south), Far East (Amurskaya oblast, Khabarovskii krai, Primorskii krai, Sakhalin, *Kuril Islands (Kunashir)); China (Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Neimenggu, Shanxi, * Shaanxi, * Sichuan, Zhejiang, Yunnan), Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku), North Korea, South Korea.

Remarks. Unlike the other species treated here, Mutilla mikado is predominantly a Palaearctic species and only occurs in a few Oriental areas of China. In some older papers (e. g., Chen 1957), this species was treated as a subspecies of Mutilla europaea Linnaeus, 1758 . More recently, Mutilla europaea was recorded as a parasite of Bombus breviceps Smith, 1852 , in Yunnan, China, but the mutillid in question was later determined to be Mutilla mikado , which is the only Mutilla species known to occur in Oriental regions of China.

Figures

FIGURES 1–6. Mutilla and Kurzenkotilla. 1–4. M. mikado: 1–2. ♀, habitus (1. Dorsal view; 2. Lateral view), 3–4. Male, habitus (3. Dorsal view, 4. Lateral view). 5–6. K. ariana, ♀ (5. Lateral view, 6. Dorsal view). (Photographs by K. Williams and A. Lelej).