Timulla barbigera ( Bradley, 1916 )

Waldren, George C., 2024, Taxonomic notes on velvet ants of the genus Timulla Ashmead, 1899 (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in the United States of America and Canada, Insecta Mundi 2024 (55), pp. 1-10 : 6

Timulla barbigera ( Bradley, 1916)

Mutilla (Timulla) barbigera Bradley 1916: 206 . Holotype ♂ (ANSP).

Timulla (Timulla) barbigera rohweri Mickel 1937a: 58 . Holotype ♂ (NMNH). New synonym.

Timulla bargibera [sic] bargibera [sic]: Menard and Mitchell 2013: 74. Misspelling.

Timulla bargibera [sic] rohweri : Menard and Mitchell 2013: 74. Misspelling.

Remarks. Mutilla (Timulla) barbigera Bradley, 1916 was described from a single male specimen from Dallas, Texas ( Bradley 1916). Mickel (1937a) described the unknown female of T. barbigera , as well as a new subspecies, Timulla barbigera rohweri Mickel, 1937 , from only males. Mickel described this subspecies as follows: “Male.— Exactly like typical barbigera in the form of the scape and its pubescent brush, clypeus, tegulae, glabrous area and Y-shaped carina of last tergite, the tubercles of the sixth and seventh sternites, and the carinae of the hypopygium; differs in having the anterior fourth to third of the second abdominal tergite black, the second sternite almost entirely black, and the front, vertex, pronotum, mesonotum, scutellum, tegulae and the abdomen above and beneath (except the first tergite, first sternite and second sternite with sparse, erect, pale pubescence) all with erect and appressed, fulvous pubescence.” Mickel (1937a) treated all females as T. barbigera barbigera , suggesting there were no sufficient differences to enable associating a female with the male-based subspecies T. barbigera rohweri among the material he examined. One female Mickel (1937a) identified as T. barbigera barbigera was collected at the same date and location as a male T. barbigera rohweri (July 10, 1933 in Boise City, Oklahoma). Additionally, Mickel (1937a) recorded T. barbigera rohweri from western Kansas and extreme western Oklahoma, and T. barbigera barbigera also from western Kansas, extreme Western Oklahoma, eastern Texas, South Dakota, and the southeastern United States. There was no geographic distinction between the subspecies at the time of description in addition to being structurally identical.

Similar to Mickel, I have been unable to find any structural differences between both sexes of these subspecies either. Remarkably, two T. barbigera rohweri specimens were collected in Belle Glade, Florida in 1955 that have some or all of the metasomal terga apically fringed with orange-red setae. These specimens are well outside the known range of T. barbigera rohweri in the western Great Plains. One specimen is an intermediate between T. barbigera barbigera and T. barbigera rohweri , with T2 apically fringed with blackish setae, T3 apically fringed with black setae except medially with red-orange setae, and the remaining terga have red-orange setae. This situation is similar to that in Timulla huntleyensis Mickel, 1937 (see Timulla vagans ( Fabricius, 1798) section below).

Based on the structural uniformity of both subspecies, the apparent uniformity of females, and the overlap in distribution, Timulla barbigera rohweri Mickel, 1937 is here considered a new synonym of Timulla barbigera ( Bradley, 1916) .

Material examined ( Timulla barbigera barbigera ) (1 ♂). Non-type(s): USA: Georgia: Fulton Co.: Atlanta, 24.Jun.1936, P.W. Fattig (1♂ – EMUS).

Material examined ( Timulla barbigera rohweri ) ( 1 ♂). Holotype: USA: Kansas: Unknown: Unknown, Snow (1♂ – NMNH – USNMENT 01545785 ).

Material examined ( Timulla barbigera barbigera / rohweri intermediates) (2 ♂). Non-type(s): USA: Florida: Palm Beach Co.: Belle Glade, 15.Jul.1955, C.E. Seiler, “ Vigna sinensis ” (2♂ – DGMC).

In total, 126♂ and 99♀ of Timulla barbigera ( Bradley, 1916) were examined ( AMNH, AUEM, CASC, CMNH, CSUC, CUIC, DEBU, DGMC, EMEC, ENMU, FHSM, FMNH, FSCA, GCWC, INHS, KSUC, LSAM, MCZ, MEM, MSUC, NCSM, NMNH, OMNH, OSAC, OSEC, PSUC, PERC, SEMC, SFAC, TAMU, TTUZ, UAAM, UAIC, UCDC, UCRC, UGCA, UMMZ, UMRM, UNSM, WIRC).