Dasymutilla phya
Creators: name: Cambra, Roberto A.
name: Williams, Kevin A.
name: Quintero, Diomedes
name: Windsor, Donald M.
name: Pickering, John
name: Saavedra, Daisy
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Mutillidae
Dasymutilla
Dasymutilla phya

description: Dasymutilla phya (Cameron, 1895)
(Fig. 8–10, 26)
Sphaerophthalma [sic] phya Cameron 1895: 350, holotype female, Bugaba, Chiriquí, BMNH; Nonveiller 1990:88, incertae sedis.
Traumatomutilla phya: Cambra and Quintero (1992): 477, transfered to Traumatomutilla; Cambra (1997): distribution and additional material examined.
Sphaerophthalma [sic] melissa Cameron 1895: 360, syntype female, Panama, Bugaba, BNHM. Traumatomutilla melissa: Cambra and Quintero (1992): 477; Luz et al. (2016) designation of lectotype and synonymy under D. phya.
Dasymutilla phya: Luz et al. (2016): 366, transfered to Dasymutilla; included in D. paradoxa species-group.
Dasymutilla sleipniri Manley and Pitts 2007: 90, holotype male, Panama CZ, Barro Colorado Is., UCDC. New synonymy.
Diagnosis. FEMALE. This species is apparently unique among Dasymutilla in having the pygidium convex and apparently undefined. It can be recognized first by its placement in the paradoxa group, based on having four integumental patches on T2, having black tibial spurs, and having an elongate mesosoma that lacks a scutellar scale, then separated from other paradoxa group members by its coloration (Fig. 8), its poorly defined pygidium, and by the absence of an erect clypeal tubercle. MALE. This species can be placed in the paradoxa group by its elongate arm-like axillae. It can be separated from the other paradoxa group members by its predominantly black body color, its unarmed hypopygium, and by having a seta-filled pit on S2. Its coloration is similar to that of D. paradoxa, particularly in the almost entirely yellow T2 (Fig. 10).
Distribution. Costa Rica and Panama (Cambra 1997; Manley and Pitts 2007; Luz et al. 2016).
Material examined (MIUP except where noted). PANAMA: Panamá Province: 267 specimens collected in Barro Colorado Island with ten Malaise traps from the years 2001 to 2006 (Saavedra 2014). COSTA RICA: Guanacaste Province: Est. Maritza, 600 m, ladera O. volcan Orosi, 27.ii–10.iii.1992, K. Martínez, 1f (INBio); i.1990, R. Blanco, 1m (INBio). Limón Province: Est. Hitoy Cerere, 100 m, R. Cerere, Res. Biol. Hitoy Cerere, iv.1992, G. Carballo, 1f (INBio). Puntarenas Province: Rancho Quemado, 200 m, Península de Osa, 21.iii–7.iv.1992, F. Quesada, 1f (INBio). San José Province: Est. Carrillo, 700 m, P.N. Braulio Carrillo, 15–17.ii.1993, 2f (INBio), 1f (MIUP).
Remarks. Cambra (1997) mentioned the sex association for Traumatomutilla phya (Cameron), but did not describe the male; this male is here recognized as morphologically identical to Dasymutilla sleipniri Manley and Pitts, syn. nov.
description: Published as part of Cambra, Roberto A., Williams, Kevin A., Quintero, Diomedes, Windsor, Donald M., Pickering, John & Saavedra, Daisy, 2018, Dasymutilla Ashmead (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) in Panama: new species, sex associations and seasonal flight activity, pp. 1-17 in Insecta Mundi 608 on page 9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3697062