Timulla suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874 )

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 : 13-14

Timulla suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874)

Mutilla suspensa Gerstaecker 1874: 299 . Type ♀ (ZMHB).

Timulla (Timulla) suspensa sonora Mickel 1937a: 84 , pl. III, fig. 15. Holotype ♀ and allotype ♂ (NMNH). New synonym. Timulla (Timulla) suspensa jonesi Mickel 1937a: 90 . Holotype ♂ (UMSP). New synonym.

Remarks. Mickel (1937a) described the subspecies Timulla suspensa sonora Mickel, 1937 based on a relatively large series of specimens with several pairs collected in copula. He differentiated it from the nominal subspecies, Timulla suspensa suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) , as follows in the remarks for T. suspensa sonora : “I have compared female specimens of this subspecies with the holotype of suspensa Gerstaecker and find the only difference is in the color of the legs, in subspecies suspensa black, and in subspecies sonora ferruginous; in pattern of pubescence, sculpture and puncturation of body the two are identical; the color of the abdomen of the female varies from distinctly black to distinctly ferruginous; the series before me includes many intergrades between the two…” The male of T. suspensa suspensa is unknown. Female leg coloration was emphasized by Mickel (1938) for the Neotropical Timulla as a species-level character, although it was not always reliable, with females of some species having both bright red legs in some individuals and dark mahogany red legs in others, such as in the Mexican species Timulla obscurella Mickel, 1938 ( Mickel 1938; pers. obs.). There is no geographic distinction between T. suspensa sonora and T. suspensa suspensa , as both are known from southeastern Arizona ( Mickel 1937a). Based on their identical morphology and geographic overlap, Timulla suspensa sonora Mickel, 1937 is here considered a new synonym of Timulla suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) .

A second subspecies was described by Mickel (1937a), namely Timulla suspensa jonesi Mickel, 1937 , based on three males from Douglas, Arizona and five males from southern Texas, with the holotype being from Douglas, Arizona; the female is unknown. Mickel (1937a) differentiated the males of T. suspensa jonesi and T. suspensa sonora as follows: “Closely related to the male of subsp. sonora but differs in having the second abdominal sternite entirely ferruginous, the somewhat more dense, pale pubescence of the pronotum, and the slightly less reflexed postero-lateral angles of the clypeal glabrous area.” Variation within clypeal shape has been observed within species of Timulla (e.g., Timulla rufogastra ( Lepeletier, 1845) in Mickel (1938)), as well as cuticle coloration in both males and females as discussed for other subspecies treated in this paper. Additionally, two of the specimens of T. suspensa jonesi were collected by W. W. Jones in Douglas, Arizona and one specimen by F. H. Snow at San Bernardino Ranch in Douglas, Arizona. Both of these collectors also collected specimens of the subspecies T. suspensa sonora at the same locality and month as T. suspensa jonesi (Mickel 1937) . Thus, the subspecies are sympatric in Arizona.

However, five of the paratypes of T. suspensa jonesi were collected in south Texas ( Mickel 1937a). I consider these Texas paratypes to belong to an undescribed species (Waldren in prep.). Further, I have females associated with these south Texas males which are distinctly different from females of T. suspensa in having the anterior whitish setal patches of T2 limited to the basal half of the sclerite rather than longitudinally spanning the entire length of T2 as in T. suspensa . Based on their identical morphology and geographic overlap in Douglas, Arizona, Timulla suspensa jonesi Mickel, 1937 is here considered a new synonym of Timulla suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) .

Material examined ( Timulla (Timulla) suspensa jonesi (Texas specimens are an undescribed species)) (2 ♂). Paratype (s): USA: Texas: Bexar Co.: 23.Sep.1934, H.B. Parks (1♂ – TAMU –TAMU-ENTO X1043037); Victoria Co. : Victoria , 19.Jun.1913, J.D. Mitchell (1♂ – NMNH –ParatypeNo. 53395 U.S.N.M.).

Material examined ( Timulla (Timulla) suspensa sonora ) (2 ♂ and 2 ♀). Holotype: USA: New Mexico: Doña Ana Co.: [Las Cruces], Mesilla Park, Cockerell (1♀ – NMNH –USNMENT 01545823). Paratype (s): USA: Arizona: Cochise Co. : Douglas, 08.Aug.1928, W.W. Jones (1♂ – EMUS). Non-type(s): USA: Arizona: Cochise Co. : Sierra Vista, 16 mi. SE, 19.Aug.1972, R.R. Snelling (1♂ 1♀ [in copula]– EMUS).

In total, 482♂ and 491♀ of Timulla suspensa ( Gerstaecker, 1874) were examined ( AMNH, ASUHIC, BPBM, CASC, CMNH, CNC, CSCA, CSUC, CUIC, DGMC, EMUS, ENMU, FMNH, FSCA, GCWC, KSUC, MCZ, MEM, MSBA, MSUC, NMNH, NMSU, OSAC, OSEC, OSUC, PCYU, SDMC, SEMC, TAMU, TTUZ, UAIC, UCDC, UCMC, UCRC, UGCA, UMMZ, UTIC, WFBM, WIRC, WSU).