Laminatilla Pitts
Creators: name: Pitts, James P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Laminatilla

description: LAMINATILLA Pitts, New Genus
Type species. Odontophotopsis lamellifera Schuster
Diagnosis of male. This genus can be easily recognized by the unique shape of the mesosternal processes (Fig. 63) and the unique shape of the cuspis of the genitalia (Figs. 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79).
Description of male. Coloration. Body testaceous; flagellum and legs stramineous to concolorous with body; metasoma varies from stramineous to testaceous. Body clothed with sparse, erect, brachyplumose, whitish setae, few plumose setae on mesosoma near tegula. T1 without plumose setae or with sparse fringe at distal margin. T2 and S2 with sparse fringe of whitish plumose setae. T3-5 and S3-5 each with sparser, less conspicuous fringe of whitish plumose setae. Setae sometimes tinged yellow.
Head. Head distinctly triangular to subtriangular posteriorly. Mandible tridentate, deeply excised beneath, angle of excision rounded; dorsal carina strong, medially lamelliform, terminating at strong inner tooth; subdistal inner tooth weak; mandibles varying from dilated beyond excision to tapered (Figs. 69–71, 74, 77). Clypeus depressed below margin of mandible, median area concave; surface of clypeus polished, almost impunctate, with few erect setae. Scape with single carina beneath. F1 ~0.75–1.2X length of F2. Front, vertex, and gena with moderate, shallow, close punctures, becoming separated and sparse on vertex and gena. Ocelli moderate in size, ocellocular distance ~1–1.25X greatest width of lateral ocellus.
Mesosoma. Sides and dorsum of pronotum coarsely punctate, dorsum with moderate, confluent, deep punctures, sides with somewhat larger, shallower punctures. Mesonotum with moderate, contiguous, shallow punctures. Notaulus distinct, obsolete on anterior 0.3–0.5 of mesonotum. Scutellum coarsely, confluently punctate. Dorsum and posterior face of propodeum conspicuously, shallow reticulate, reticulations extending on to sides of propodeum, either remaining reticulate laterally or becoming coarse, punctate-reticulate. Anterolateral area of mesopleuron with moderate, shallow, separated punctures; remainder of mesopleuron with deeper, contiguous to confluent punctures; interstitial areas sometimes micropunctate. Metapleuron polished. Mesosternal processes triangularly shaped, subapproximate, parallel, tall, lamellately compressed laterally, and hyaline (Fig. 63). Metasternum bidentate. Tibial spurs and legs concolorous. Marginal cell on costa elongate, ~1.4–2.0X length of stigma.
Metasoma. First metasomal segment petiolate, nodose. T1 sparsely punctured throughout. T2 polished, with fine, scattered punctures throughout. T3-5 weakly punctured, punctures most obvious at anterior and posterior margins. Pygidium elongate and ovate, polished, not strongly margined; S2 with small, shallow, sparse punctures, sternal felt line 0.2–0.33X length of tergal felt line; S3-5 weakly punctured. Hypopygium with close, moderate punctures. Genitalia with cuspis elongate and spatulate apically in lateral view (Figs. 72, 73, 75, 76, 78, 79).
Female. Unknown.
Etymology. From the Latin Lamina meaning blade or thin plate in reference to the sternal processes of the included species combined with a common suffix used for Mutillidae. Gender feminine.
Distribution. Southern New Mexico, Arizona, and Baja California Sur (Mexico).
Remarks. Laminatilla is a distinct genus in the Sphaeropthalmini (subtribe: Sphaeropthalmina). The shape of the sternal processes and genitalic cuspis are autapomorphic for the genus. Laminatilla will key to subfamily Sphaeropthalminae without difficulty in existing keys by Brothers (1993, 1995). In Manley and Pitts’s (2002) key to the mutillid genera of the North American, Laminatilla will key to Odontophotopsis from which it may be distinguished by the autapomorphies listed above.
This genus shares characters with several other genera. The genitalia, especially the shape of the cuspis, and lack of dense plumose setae are reminiscent of Sphaeropthalma. The genus as a whole also shares similarities in the size, shape and position of the mesosternal processes and shape of the posterior margin of the head with Acanthophotopsis as well.
This genus contains the three species L. bicornigera Schuster, L. lamellifera Schuster, and L. mixtoensis Schuster.
It is likely that species in this genus will also be found in southern California and Baja California Norte when more specimens become available. Laminatilla species seem to be rare compared to other nocturnal mutillids, but this could be an artifact of sampling, similar to species in the O. setifera species-group, rather than actual rarity.
description: Published as part of Pitts, James P., 2007, Revision of Odontophotopsis Viereck (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), Part 1, with a description of a new Genus Laminatilla, pp. 1-43 in Zootaxa 1619 on pages 35-37, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.179151