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
Odontophotopsis biramosa
Schuster
Odontophotopsis
(
Odontophotopsis
)
biramosa
Schuster, 1952
. Brooklyn Ent. Soc., 47: 43–47. Male.
Holotype
data: California,
Imperial Co., Holtville
,
2 Jul 1929
, P.W. Owens (NMNH).
Odontophotopsis
(
Odontophotopsis
)
biramosa
Schuster, 1958
. Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 56. Male.
Diagnosis of male
. This species is recognized by having a tridentate mandible with an extremely large dorsal tooth that is separated from the lower portion of the mandibular apex by a deep, wide sinus, which makes the mandibular apices appear biramose (
Fig. 29
), and by the clypeus, which has a horseshoe-shaped tubercle posteromedially that overhangs the clypeus as a slight hood-like or nasutiform process. Also, this species has a single mesosternal process on each side of the midline, and its cuspis is approximately half the free length of the paramere. The genitalia are illustrated in
Fig. 10
.
Female.
Unknown.
Material examined.
California
,
Imperial Co
., Algodones Dunes
: Glamis,
2 mi
. NE, on Ted Kipf Road, 301’,
33°00.969’N
115°06.033’W
,
2 males
,
29–30.Jul.2007
, K.A. Williams and J.S. Wilson (
EMUS
); Wash Rd.,
7 km
SE Hwy. 78,
1 male
,
9–10.Jun.2008
, R.B. Kimsey and T.J. Zavortink (
UCDC
).
Distribution.
California and southwestern Arizona northward into southern Nevada.
Remarks.
This species is rare, but not endemic to the Algodones Sand Dunes. A more thorough discussion of this species can be found in Pitts (2007).