The female velvet ants (aka modkhong) of southern Thailand (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), with a key to the genera of southeast Asia

Abstract

A review of female mutillids in southern Thailand is presented, based on literature, loaned material, and two field expeditions. Thirty-three species in 23 genera have been previously recorded from Thailand (Lelej 2005; Lelej et al. 2016, 2017; Okayasu et al. 2018). In March and April 2017, 337 female specimens were collected in the provinces of Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, and Trang. In May 2018, 255 female specimens were collected in the provinces of Kanchanaburi, Phetchaburi, and Surat Thani. These collected specimens were sorted into 38 morphospecies: 13 already known from Thailand, nine previously described species newly recorded from Thailand, and 16 new to science and described here. Based on loaned material, three more described species were newly recorded from southern Thailand and one more undescribed species was found. Keys to females of the 31 mutillid genera found in southeast Asia and 42 mutillid species studied from southern Thailand are provided. Illustrations and diagnoses are provided for each species studied in southern Thailand, including the following 17 new species: Bischoffitilla tokay Williams, Bischoffitilla cambrai Williams, Mickelomyrme puttasoki Williams, Mickelomyrme kinguri Williams, Nordeniella maleeae Williams, Smicromyrme helarctos Williams, Smicromyrme borkenti Williams, Smicromyrme thaochani Williams, Krombeinidia agricola Williams, Krombeinidia chang Williams, Krombeinidia baanmaka Williams, Orientidia manleyi Williams, Orientidia thoawanae Williams, Petersenidia modkhong Williams, Petersenidia leleji Williams, Trogaspidia pittsi Williams, and Trogaspidia wilsoni Williams. Three new synonyms and one new combination are recognized: Bischoffitilla lamellata (Mickel, 1933) = Squamulotilla arundinacea Pagden, 1934, syn. nov., Mickelomyrme pusillaeformis (Hammer, 1962), comb. nov. = Mickelomyrme yunnanensis Lelej, 1996, syn. nov., Trogaspidia pagdeni (Mickel, 1933) = Timulla (Trogaspidia) pagdeni nodoa Mickel, 1933, syn. nov. Finally, two other taxa are raised to full species from subspecies status, Eotrogaspidia oryzae (Pagden, 1934), status resurr., and Trogaspidia lingnani (Mickel, 1933), status nov. New combination is also proposed for Krombeinidia meeungensis (Cockerell, 1928), comb. nov. Twenty-three new country records are presented: 12 from Thailand, four from Vietnam, four from Laos, two from Cambodia, and one from Indonesia.

To the Knowledge of the Velvet Ant Genus Bischoffitilla Lelej (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) in Indonesia

“…Recent faunistic studies of velvet ants in other countries have raised their known species diversity. In Thailand, for example, the number of recorded species raised from 33 to 63 (Williams et al, 2019). Furthermore, 68 velvet ant species have been recognized in the Malaysian portion of Borneo (Lelej, 2005); many of these species likely also occur in the Indonesian provinces of East, North, South, and West Kalimantan.…”

“…Species included. The genus Bischoffitilla currently includes 75 described species, 70 of them are known from the Oriental region and five from the Palaearctic (Lelej, 2002(Lelej, update, 2005Williams et al, 2019). Seven species are known from Indonesia: Bischoffitilla aesyca (Cameron, 1902), ♀; B. deserta (Smith, 1879), ♀; B. facilis (Smith, 1860), ♂; B. muiri (Mickel, 1935), ♂; B. multidentata (André, 1896), ♀; B. palaca (Cameron, 1902), ♂; B. saffica (Zavattari, 1914), ♀, and in this paper we add newly recorded from Indonesia the eighth species B. selangorensis (Pagden, 1934) (Sumatra).…”

Three new species and one new country record of velvet ants (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) from Thailand

“…(Helicon Soft, Ukraine), all photos were improved with Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Adobe Systems, California, USA). The terminology mostly follows Hymenoptera Anatomy Ontology ( 2013) and the taxonomic characters and type specimen measurements follow the methodology used in Williams et al (2019).…”

“…This species is newly recorded from Thailand. In the key to Thai females from Williams et al (2019), B. selangorensis terminates at couplet 4. It can be differentiated from B. lamellata and the other species by having T3 without a distinct band or mesal patch of whitish setae; rather, T3 has sparse interspersed blackish and pale yellow or whitish setae.…”

“…Before 2019, Thai velvet ants were only discussed in catalogs or revisions of various genera in the Oriental Region (Lelej and Krombein 1999;Lelej 2005;Lelej et al 2016Lelej et al , 2017Okayasu et al 2018Okayasu et al , 2021a) and 33 species were recorded from Thailand (25 known from females). The first survey focused on Thailand was written by Williams et al (2019) and treated female specimens in southern Thailand. The result of that project raised the number of Thai species from 33 to 61.…”