Sphaeropthalma marpesia Blake
Creators: name: Pitts, James P.
name: Wilson, Joseph S.
name: Williams, Kevin A.
name: Boehme, Nicole F.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Sphaeropthalma
Sphaeropthalma marpesia

description: Sphaeropthalma marpesia (Blake)
Mutilla Marpesia Blake, 1879. Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 7: 247. Female (ANSP).
Sphaerophthalma (!) luteola Blake, 1886. Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 13: 235. Female (ANSP).
Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) imperialiformis Viereck, 1906. Amer. Ent. Soc., Trans. 32: 189. Male. Holotype: Kansas, Morton Co., 3200’, Jun.1902, coll. F.H. Snow (SEMC).
Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) imperialiformis imperialiformis (Viereck) in Schuster, 1958. Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 34. Male.
Sphaeropthalma (Photopsis) imperialiformis maricopae Schuster, 1958. Ent. Amer. (n. s.) 37: 34. Male. Holotype: Arizona, Phoenix, 25.Sep.1935, coll. R.H. Crandall (UMSP).
Diagnosis of male. The male of S. marpesia can be separated from all other nocturnal species by its lack of mesosternal processes and by its coloration; the integument is black throughout except metasomal segments 3–6 are orangish and by the setal coloration of the vertex, pronotum, mesonotum and metasomal segment 2 that varies from silver to orange. The mandible is moderately dilated, distally little or scarcely wider than at tooth, the ventral basal tooth of the mandible is small, and the apex is vertical (see Pitts, 2006: Fig. 6) Also, the head is quadrate posteriorly being long and parallel behind the eyes (see Pitts, 2006: Fig. 2), the clypeus is deeply depressed below the dorsal mandibular margin, the sternal felt line is present, and by characteristic genitalic morphology (see Pitts, 2006: Figs. 14–16).
Diagnosis of female. The female of this species is easily recognized by its unique color pattern (see Pitts, 2006: Fig. 25). Other useful characters include the petiolate metasomal segment 1, the small ventral angulation located basally on the mandible, the granulate pygidium, and the presence of plumose setae especially on the fringes of the metasomal tergites.
Distribution. Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Material Examined. California: Imperial Co., Bard, 1 male, 28.Apr.1960, coll. H.H. Blakemore (LACM), 19.Oct.1961, coll. B.F. Harrison (LACM), 1 male, 23.Oct.1961, coll. R. Maxwell (LACM), 1 male, 11.May.1962 (LACM), 1 male, 11.Jul.1966, coll. Ratcliff (CDFA); Winterhaven: 1 male, 11.May.1960, coll. H.H. Blakemore (CDFA), 2 males, 7.Jun.1962 – 14.Jun.1962, coll. W. Akins (LACM), 1 male, 19.Jun.1962, coll. W. Akins (CDFA).
Remarks. In the males, the wing coloration varies from uniformly deep fuscous to hyaline basally with a strongly fuscous area below stigma and subfuscous distally and the ocellocular distance varies from1.0–1.7X the posterior ocellar length. Setal coloration of the males varies from the second metasomal tergite (except for basal margin), the vertex, and the pro- and mesonotum with orange setae to the setal coloration being completely silver. Pitts (2006) reviewed this species.
While this species has been collected on the Algodones Sand Dunes, the close proximity of collecting sites to the dunes suggests that this species may be found on the dunes as well.
description: Published as part of Pitts, James P., Wilson, Joseph S., Williams, Kevin A. & Boehme, Nicole F., 2009, Velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of the Algodones sand dunes of California, USA, pp. 1-53 in Zootaxa 2131 on pages 42-43, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.188392