Systematic revision of the North American velvet ant genus Invreiella Suárez (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) with description of eleven new species
Author
Waldren, George C.
Utah State University, Department of Biology, Logan, Utah, USA. & gcwaldren @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 0007 - 1090 & james. pitts @ usu. edu; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 1062 - 3258
Author
Williams, Kevin A.
Plant Pest Diagnostics Center, California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, California, USA. & kevin. williams @ cdfa. ca. gov; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 6073 - 1070
Author
Cambra, Roberto A.
Museo de Invertebrados G. B. Fairchild, Estafeta Universitaria Apartado 00017, Universidad de Panamá, Panamá 0824, República de Panamá. & cambramiup 60 @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 3799 - 4710
Author
Pitts, James P.
Utah State University, Department of Biology, Logan, Utah, USA. & gcwaldren @ gmail. com; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 0007 - 1090 & james. pitts @ usu. edu; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 1062 - 3258
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-12-09
4894
2
151
205
journal article
9325
10.11646/zootaxa.4894.2.1
b084cbe7-0fe6-4dd4-a948-ae519e54292b
1175-5326
4315613
925571E3-BE7B-4271-826D-0357EF782AE6
15.
Invreiella megacantha
(
Cockerell & Casad, 1894
)
, stat. resurr.
Sphaerophthalma
[sic]
megacantha
Cockerell & Casad, 1894: 294
[
holotype
♀
(MADUG – lost)]. Cameron 1895: 365; Cock-erell 1895: 60. Junior subjective synonym of
Pseudomethoca cardinalis
(
Gerstaecker, 1874
)
according to
Mickel 1964: 166
.
-
Mutilla megacantha
:
Dalla Torre 1897: 60
.
-
Ephuta
(
Ephuta
)
megacantha
:
André 1902: 61
.
Cockerell & Casad (1894)
described two new species of
Mutillidae
based on material collected in
Guanajuato
,
Mexico by
Alfredo Dugès:
Sphaerophthalma
[sic]
dugesii
Cockerell & Casad
and
S. megacantha
Cockerell & Casad. Shortly
after, two additional species,
S. prunotincta
Cockerell
and
S. rufosuffusa
Cockerell & Casad
, were also described from material collected by Dugès in
Guanajuato
(Cockerell 1895;
Cockerell & Casad 1895
). The
holotypes
of
S. dugesii
,
S. megacantha
,
S. prunotincta
, and
S. rufosuffusa
have been considered lost for some time (
Mickel 1928
,
1964
;
Suárez 1966
;
Manley & Pitts 2007
). Despite not having located and examined the
holotype
of
S. megacantha
,
Mickel (1964)
synonymized this species under
Pseudomethoca cardinalis
(Gerstaecker)
.
We sought to locate these four lost
holotypes
with the hunch that Cockerell and Casad may have returned the material to Dugès in
Guanajuato
,
Mexico
. Mr. Néstor Quezadas Tapia at the Museo de Historia Natural Alfredo Dugès (
MADUG
) kindly searched for these four type specimens and provided photographs to confirm their identity. The type of
S. rufosuffusa
was discovered (label: “
Sphaeropthalma
/
rufosuffusa
,
/
Type.
”), as well as a specimen of
S. dugesii
that is not labeled as a type but could potentially be it (label: “
Sphaerophthalma
/
Dugesi, Ckll
♀
.”). A specimen of
S. prunotincta
was also found but it lacks labels; this could be the type based on its match with Cockerell’s original description, the apparent age of the specimen, and the appearance of the pin. It is worth noting that
André (1898)
mentioned that he examined the type of
S. prunotincta
through A. Dugès. No specimens labeled as
S. megacantha
were located at MADUG.
Based on the original description of
S. megacantha
by
Cockerell & Casad (1894)
, it is likely a member of
Invreiella
; however, there is not enough information to determine with certainty its species-level identity. Due to the unexpected diversity of
Invreiella
discovered during the course of this study, we here treat
I. megacantha
,
stat. resurr.
, as a
nomen dubium
with the hope that type material will eventually surface. It is possible that
I. megacantha
is indeed a synonym of
I. cardinalis
, as A. Dugès’ brother, Eugenio Dugès, collected a female of
I. cardinalis
in
Guanajuato
; this specimen is housed at RBINS. As for the other three types,
Manley & Pitts (2007)
designated a
neotype
for
S. dugesii
, a species that is now considered a synonym of
Dasymutilla foxi
(Cockerell, 1894) (
Pilgrim
et al
. 2008
)
. The species
S. prunotincta
was synonymized under
Mutilla
(
Ephuta
)
sicheliana
Saussure, 1867
(=
Dasymutilla sicheliana
) by
André (1898)
. Lastly, the species
S. rufosuffusa
is likely a synonym of
Dasymutilla formosa
(
Blake, 1871
)
.