Velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of the Algodones sand dunes of California, USA
Author
Pitts, James P.
Author
Wilson, Joseph S.
Author
Williams, Kevin A.
Author
Boehme, Nicole F.
text
Zootaxa
2009
2131
1
53
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.188392
4683115e-4971-4b8f-bb75-1a3f9b104521
1175-5326
188392
Photomorphus bicolor
(Blake)
Agama bicolor
Blake, 1879
. Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 7: 252. Male.
Syntypes
: Texas,
2 males
(ANSP).
Mutilla madejskii
Dalle Torre, 1897
. Cat. Hymen. 8: 56. Male.
Mutilla bellerophon
Melander
(nec Fox), 1903. Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. 29: 306, 307. Male.
New Synonym.
Mutilla
(
Photomorphus
?)
crepuscula
Viereck, 1906. Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 32: 188. Male.
Holotype
data: Kansas, Morton Co., F.H. Snow (SMEC).
New Synonym.
Photomorphus
(
Photomorphina
)
bicolor
Schuster, 1958
. Ent. Amer. 37: 42.
Diagnosis of male
. This species is separated from the other nocturnal mutillids on the Algodones Sand Dunes by having crenulate mesosternal processes that are made of five or more scattered asperations, roughly equal in height, that form a longitudinal row on either side of the midline, a clypeus with a well-defined posteromedial tubercle, and a glabrous pygidium. The genitalia are illustrated in
Fig. 107
.
Female.
Unknown.
Material examined.
California
,
Imperial Co
., Algodones Dunes, Wash Rd.
,
0.7 km
W, Rail Road Post 168,
1 male
,
18–22.Sep.2008
, R. Kimsey and T. Zavortink (
UCDC
).
Distribution.
Found throughout the southwestern
United States
.
Remarks.
This species is not common on the dunes, but is common in other parts of its range. The specimen from the dunes varies in coloration from specimens collected elsewhere. On most specimens the metasoma is black, which is distinctly darker than the mesosoma and head. The specimen from the dune has dark coloration only around the felt lines, while most of the metasoma is stramineous to slightly castaneous.