Liomutilla canariensis Andre 1907
Creators: name: Turrisi, Giuseppe Fabrizio
name: Palmerini, Maurizio Matteini
name: Brothers, Denis J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Liomutilla
Liomutilla canariensis

description: Liomutilla canariensis André, 1907
(Figs 32–35)
Liomutilla canariensis André, 1907: 340 (♀); Mercet 1913: 262 (description of ♂); Bischoff 1920: 78 (♂, ♀) (key, redescription); Suárez 1970: 257 (commented); Báez & Ortega 1978: 189 (listed); Hohmann et al. 1993: 62, 197–198 (catalogued); Lelej 2002: 31 (catalogued); Koçak & Kemal 2008: 32 (listed); Suarez 2011 (imaged).
Type locality. “Ténériffe (Ile Canaries)” [= Tenerife, Canary Islands].
Type material examined. Holotype: ♀ labelled “Museum Paris, Iles Canaries, Ténériffe, Ch. Allaud, 1900 / Ténériffe / Type / Liomutilla canariensis n. sp. ♀” (MNHN).
Additional material examined. CANARY ISLANDS: 1♀, Tenerife, Baja mar., 10.ii.1911, A. Cabrera [leg.] (MNCN); 1♂, Tenerife, Arico Montana, La Atalaya, 7.xi,1911, “en una tasnquilla con agua” (MNCN); 1♀, Gran Canaria, 3750 m N Cruz de Tejeda, road to Pinos de Caldar, 1370 m, 28.00° 58’ N/15.36° 06’ W, “Wiese mit Pinus canariensis ”, 2.II.1998, Zerche leg. (MRSN).
Redescription. ♀ (holotype). Length: 4.5 mm. Colour. Head reddish orange, frontal area weakly darker medially (above antennal rims), with mostly scattered to moderately dense (clypeus and A1) and erect to recumbent setae, blackish on dorsal areas, whitish on clypeus, mandibles, antennae and ventral area; mandible with teeth darker; mesosoma and legs reddish orange, except anterior margin (corresponding about to pronotum), two weakly defined round spot in middle, sides of propodeum and coxae of legs darker; metasoma blackish reddish with moderately dense, long semi erect whitish setae, recumbent, short, dense and black on anterior half of T2; T2 with two round, moderately large ivory spots far from anterior margin, diameter of each spot much less than their distance from each other; T3 with broad whitish pubescent band widely interrupted medially; T4 without pale pubescent band. Head shiny, polished, with fine, superficial and scattered punctures (distance between punctures 2.0–3.0 × puncture diameter); head width/length: 1.00; head width/pronotum width: 1.24; genal area (dorsal view) long, margin weakly convex, fairly convergent toward occiput; gena (lateral view) with lower half slim, weakly angulate, without denticle; gena length/eye length: 1.27; frontal carina touching inner margin of eye; antennal rim well exposed, recognizable in dorsal view; supra-antennal tooth absent; clypeus triangle shaped, wide (axis of lateral process beyond antennal insertion), concave with moderately developed stout tooth-like process laterally; postgena (behind oral fossa) weakly concave; oral fossa long (width less than length); mandible tridentate, with wide and stout inner basal tooth, slightly smaller in size than inner apical tooth; ratios A2:A3:A4 = 6:14:9. Mesosoma length/width: 1.4, polished shiny, with coarse, superficial and scattered punctures dorsally, impunctate on sides; humeral angle weakly convex, rounded, with epomial carina weak, far from pronotal spiracle; fore coxa slender, apex bearing acute ventral denticle; mid and hind tibia with five dorsal pre-apical spines arranged in two rows. Metasoma ovoidal, slender, polished, shiny, punctate, punctures dense and fine; T2 1.11 × as wide as long; S6 flat.
♂ (Canary Islands, Tenerife). Length: 4.5 mm; fore wing: 3.6 mm. Colour. Head entirely brownish orange, with scattered erect setae, brownish on dorsal areas, whitish on clypeus, mandible, antenna and ventral area; mesosoma and legs entirely reddish orange, with pronotum, mesoscutellum and propodeum lighter; wings hyaline; metasoma entirely brownish orange, with moderately dense erect to recumbent long whitish to goldish setae; T2 with mixed erect and recumbent whitish to goldish setae, without pale spots; T3 and T4 without pale pubescent band, only with sparse setae. Head shiny, polished, with fine, deep and very scattered punctures (distance between punctures 4.0–5.0 × puncture diameter); head width/length: 1.26; head width/pronotum width: 1.07; genal area (dorsal view) long, with margin strongly convergent toward occiput; gena (lateral view) weakly convex, slim, not angulate, without denticle; gena length/eye length: 1.10; longitudinal frontal furrow present, touching anterior ocellus; antennal rim forwarded, recognizable in dorsal view; clypeus triangle shaped, moderately wide (axis of lateral process about at level of antennal insertion), anterior margin concave, with moderately developed stout tooth-like process laterally; ocelli well developed, distance between anterior and posterior ocelli less than distance between posterior ocelli; OOL:POL = 2.00:1.00; postgena (behind oral fossa) convex; oral fossa long (width less than length); mandible tridentate, with moderately wide inner basal tooth, larger than inner apical tooth; ratios A2:A3:A4 = 3:6:5. Mesosoma length/width: 1.70, polished punctate to impunctate on sides, mesopleuron strongly convex, polished punctate; humeral angle obtuse, rounded; sutures of mesoscutum well distinct; mesoscutum convex; notaulus absent, parapsidal line present; mesoscutellum well defined, fairly convex; propodeum (lateral view) sloping, narrower than pronotum (dorsal view); tegula sub-circular, well developed, normal sized, impunctate; fore wing without vein 2m-cu; submarginal cell 2 less than half as wide as submarginal cell 1 and marginal cell; angle between veins 2Rs and 2M acute; vein 4Rs weakly curved, apical angle clearly acute; vein 2Rs length about 2.00 × as vein 2M; vein rs-m not thickened; fore coxa stout; mid tibia with one dorsal pre-apical spine; hind tibia with one dorso-lateral pre-apical spine. Metasoma subelliptical, slender, shiny, polished punctate, punctures scattered to moderately dense, fine to moderately coarse; T2 1.16 × as wide as long; S2 with well raised straight acute tooth-like process in middle; S8 stout with sides subparallel, distal margin slightly pointed medially, length/width: 1.02, with two raised tooth-like processes in middle on ventral surface, disposed transversely, close each other; genital capsule: cuspis of volsella elongate, finger-shaped, apex regularly rounded, weakly convex to flat toward apex, ending well beyond mid length of paramere harpe, without longitudinal carina; digitus of volsella much shorter than cuspis, about half length; penis valve with midventral process elongate and strongly curved.
Intraspecific variation. Examined 3♀, 1♂. Female. Length: 4.5–6.2 mm; the colour varies moderately, as does the size of the cuticular spots on T2; the holotype is a paler specimen but the other two specimens are darker, with the frons and mesosoma more extensively darkened, with the antenna (except A1–A3), femora and tibiae dark brown; the cuticular spots on T2 are relatively small in the holotype, but are larger in the other two specimens, their colour being bright to pale.
Distribution. Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma) (Fig. 37).
Remarks. The species, described from Tenerife (André 1907), has been recorded also from Gran Canaria, El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma by Suárez (1970) and Hohmann et al. (1993), and is apparently absent from Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
description: Published as part of Turrisi, Giuseppe Fabrizio, Palmerini, Maurizio Matteini & Brothers, Denis J., 2015, Systematic revision and phylogeny of the genera Blakeius Ashmead, 1903 and Liomutilla André, 1907, with description of two new genera (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae, Myrmillinae), pp. 1-78 in Zootaxa 4010 (1) on pages 63-64, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4010.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/289318