Sinotilla Lelej 1995
Creators: name: Okayasu, Juriya
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Sinotilla

description: Sinotilla Lelej, 1995
(Figs 1 –36)
Sinotilla Lelej, 1995b: 18. Type species: Smicromyrme boheana Chen, 1957, ♂, by original designation.
Diagnosis. FEMALE. Hypostomal teeth present (Fig. 30). Clypeus with protruding transverse lamellate carina on anterior margin and with median basal tubercle. Mandible slender. Fore tarsi without external comb of spines. Scutellar scale weak but distinct. T2 with apical narrow band of dense, appressed setae, slightly widened medially; T3 with wide uniform band of dense, appressed setae (Figs 8, 16, 24). T6 lacking distinct flattened pygidium, glabrous, unsculptured, polished and remarkably convergent basally with lateral margins not carinated even apically (Figs 6, 14, 22). Diagnosis for male is given by Lelej (1995b) and not repeated here.
Species included. (18 species, including new ones described below). Sinotilla belokobylskiji Lelej, 1995, ♀ (China: Yunnan; Vietnam); Sinotilla boheana (Chen, 1957), ♂ (China: Fujian, Yunnan; Vietnam); S. calopoda sp. nov., ♀ (Indonesia: Jawa Barat); S. coeruleotincta (Cameron, 1900), ♂ (India: Meghalaya, Bangla, Darjiling); S. contractula (Chen, 1957), ♀ (China: Fujian); S. cyaneiventris (André, 1896), ♀ ♂ (China: Hebei, Shanxi, Neimenggu, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Yunnan); S. decora (Smith, 1879), ♀ ♂ (China: Yunnan; Thailand; Myanmar; Malaysia: Malay Peninsula; Indonesia: Java); S. gracillima (Smith, 1857), ♂ (Malaysia: Sarawak); S. gribodoana (Invrea, 1943), ♂ (Indonesia: Kalimantan Tengah); S. hong Lelej, 1995, ♂ (China: Yunnan); S. lambirensis Lelej, 1996, ♀ (Malaysia: Sarawak); S. ohbayashii sp. nov., ♀ (China: Fujian); S. pekiniana (André, 1905), ♀ (China: Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Fujian); S. petina (Mickel, 1937), ♀ (Malaysia: Sarawak); S. runcina (Zavattari, 1913), ♂ (Indonesia: Kalimantan Tengah; Malaysia: Sabah, Sarawak); S. serpa (Zavattari, 1913), ♂ (China: Taiwan); S. subparallela (Chen, 1957), ♀ (China: Fujian, Macao); S. yakushimensis (Yasumatsu, 1934), ♀ (Japan: Yakushima).
Gender. Feminine (Lelej & Brothers 2008).
Distribution. Eastern Palaearctic and Oriental regions.
Biology. Sinotilla decora emerged from nests of a widely distributed, mud-daubing solitary wasp Pison argentatum Shuckard (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) (Pagden 1934), which is also known as a hunter of both webbuilding and non-web-building spiders of Salticidae, Araneidae, Lycosidae and Oxyopidae (Starr 2004). Pagden (1934) mentioned that this species probably attacks other species of Pison as well.
Remarks. Among the genera of Smicromyrmini, females of this genus are similar to those of Ephucilla Lelej, 1995 and Indratilla Lelej, 1993 in having weak but distinct scutellar scale and unsculptured pygidial area. It can be separated by lacking lateral carina on pygidial area which remarkably convergent basally (in Ephucilla and Indratilla pygidial area elongated and weakly carinated laterally).
Discussion. The females of Sinotilla species can be divided into four expedient groups by the following character states of T2: 1) T2 with a basal median spot of setae and bluish metallic luster (decora and contractula); 2) T2 with a basal median spot and black integument (belokobylskiji, lambirensis and petina); 3) T2 without basal median spot and uniformly black (subparallela and yakushimensis); 4) T2 without basal median spot but with bluish metallic luster (cyaneiventris and pekiniana). Below, two new species belonging to group 2 are described.
description: Published as part of Okayasu, Juriya, 2017, Two new species of the genus Sinotilla Lelej, 1995 (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), with notes on taxonomic characters, pp. 151-169 in Zootaxa 4294 (2) on page 152, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4294.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/832616