Velvet ants of the tribe Smicromyrmini Bischoff (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae)<br />of Japan

Abstract

Japanese species and genera of the tribe Smicromyrmini Bischoff, 1920 are revised. Most of the relevant types were examined. The following eight species in the genera Smicromyrme Thomson, 1870, Nemka Lelej, 1985, Mickelomyrme Lelej, 1995, Andreimyrme Lelej, 1995, Ephucilla Lelej, 1995 and Sinotilla Lelej, 1995 are recognized from Japan: Sm. lewisi Mickel, 1935, ♂♀; N. yasumatsui (Mickel, 1936), stat. rev. et comb. nov., ♂♀; M. hageni (Zavattari, 1913), ♂♀; A. substriolata (Chen, 1957), ♀ (Amami-ôshima Is., Okinawa-jima Is.); E. yoshitakei sp. nov., ♂♀ (Amami-ôshima Is.), E. suginoi sp. nov., ♂♀ (Okinawa-jima Is.), E. brevitegula sp. nov., ♂♀ (Ishigaki-jima Is., Iriomote-jima Is.); Si. jambar sp. nov., ♂ (Okinawa-jima Is.). The genera Andreimyrme and Sinotilla are newly recorded from Japan. Nemka wotani (Zavattari, 1913) and Ephucilla naja (Zavattari, 1913) are excluded from the Japanese fauna. New synonymies are proposed for N. wotani (Zavattari, 1913) [=Smicromyrme chihpenchia Tsuneki, 1993, syn. nov.], N. limi limi (Chen, 1957) [=Smicromyrme limi nanhai Chen, 1957, syn. nov.], A. substriolata [=Smicromyrme tridentiens Chen, 1957, syn. nov.] and Neotrogaspidia pustulata (Smith, 1873) [=Smicromyrme yakushimensis Yasumatsu, 1934, syn. nov.]. Phimenes flavopictus formosanus (Zimmermann, 1931) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Eumeninae) is recorded as a host of Ephucilla brevitegula. Other new records include: Mickelomyrme athalia (Pagden, 1934) from China (Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan) and Vietnam (Hoa Binh), M. bakeri (Mickel, 1934) from Malaysia (Borneo) and Indonesia (Sulawesi), M. pusillaeformis (Hammer, 1962) from Indonesia (Bali), Andreimyrme sarawakensis Lelej, 1996 from Peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and A. substriolata from Laos (Xiengkhouang, Houapanh), Thailand (Chiang Mai), Peninsular Malaysia (Kuala Terengganu) and Indonesia (Sumatra). Distributions of Japanese smicromyrmine species are classified into the following three patterns: Asian continental-Palaearctic Japan (Sm. lewisi and N. yasumatsui), Taiwan-Ryûkyû (M. hageni, E. yoshitakei, E. suginoi, E. brevitegula, Si. jambar) and Asian continental-Ryûkyû (A. substriolata). Species of Asian continental-Palaearctic Japan are widely distributed in Palaearctic part of Japan and eastern part of Eurasia, or have the closest relative in continental Asia. They are considered to be native to Japan since it was a part of Eurasia, or have immigrated to Japan through the land bridge between Korean Peninsula and Japan by the end of the Upper Pleistocene. The Taiwan-Ryûkyû species are immigrants from Taiwan through the land bridge. The Asian continental-Ryûkyû species is presumed to have immigrated to Japan during the Upper Pleistocene when the eastern edge of Eurasian Continent was close to Amami-ôshima Is.

Love is in the air and beyond the ocean: Taxonomic review ofNeotrogaspidiaLelej (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae: Trogaspidiini) in Northeast Asia highlights its unique distributional pattern

“…Smicromyrme yakushimensis Yasumatsu, 1934: 65, holotype female (Anbô‐Funayuki [安房–船行], Yakushima Island [屋久島], Japan) [ELKU]; Tsuneki, 1972a: 20, female; Tsuneki, 1982a: 70; Tsuneki, 1982b: 100; Nagase, 1982: 61; Yoshida, 1989: 651. Synonymized by Okayasu (2020: 95) under Neotrogaspidia pustulata (Smith, 1873).…”

“…Neotrogaspidia pustulata : Lelej, 1996: 21; Yamane, 1999: 378, male/female; Lelej et al ., 2001: 12, male/female; Waki, 2001: 35, female; Azuma et al ., 2002: 322; Iwata et al ., 2002: 122, female; Lelej, 2002: 82; Haneda, 2003: 1; Haneda & Tano, 2003: 9, female; Tano et al ., 2003: 24, male; Kurokawa, 2003: 59, female; Nakamura, 2003: 287, male/female; Katô et al ., 2004: 56, male/female; Nagase, 2004: 1280, male/female; Haneda et al ., 2005: 57, male; Lelej, 2005: 79; Terayama, 2005: 7, male/female; Haneda et al ., 2006a: 5, female; Haneda et al ., 2006b: 40, male; Hua, 2006: 300; Ohkusa, 2007: 30, male/female; Takahashi & Shimizu, 2007: 11, male; Haneda et al ., 2007: 50, male; Ikudome & Yamane, 2007: 6; Ohkusa & Tajima, 2008: 69, male; Ikudome & Yamane, 2009: 3, male/female; Ohkusa & Tajima, 2010: 7, male; Yamamoto, 2010: 25, male/female; Sato & Tsurusaki, 2010: 68; Terayama et al ., 2011: 21, male/female; Suda, 2011: 137, female; Mimura, 2014: 16, male; Murao, 2014: 644, female; Lo Cascio, 2015: 553; Murao, 2015: 36, female; Terayama et al ., 2016: 169, male/female; Inoue, 2018: 27, female; Okayasu et al ., 2018: 304, female; Suda, 2018: 39, female; Imai, 2019: 2, male/female; Kim & Kwon, 2019: 94; Mimura, 2019: 57, male/female; Okayasu, 2020: 95, male/female; Pagliano et al ., 2020: 253; Akiyama et al ., 2021: 141, female; Ôtsui et al ., 2021: 35, male/female; Kan, 2022: 178, male.…”

“…Ota 1998Ota , 2000. Two mutillid species, Eotrogaspidia auroguttata (Smith 1855) and Mickelomyrme hageni (Zavattari 1913), are distributed throughout central to southern Ryûkyû and Taiwan (Okayasu 2020;Okayasu et al 2021). Contrarily, Neotrogaspidia populations in the Ryûkyû-Taiwan Arc are separated by the Yonaguni Strait, which is located between the southern Ryûkyû and Taiwan (Fig.…”

“…The type species, N. pustulata (Smith, 1873), is the only species distributed in Northeast Asia. Although a recent taxonomic revision highlighted the mutillid endemism in Japanese islands (Okayasu 2020), N. pustulata is widely distributed throughout China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. This species was even recorded from oceanic Hachijyô‐jima Island (Izu Islands), Chichi‐jima Island and Nishi‐jima Island (Ogasawara Islands) (Yasumatsu 1936; Nambu & Shimizu 1984; Tsuneki 1984; Takahashi 1993; Sugiura et al .…”

A new velvet ant genus Arkaditilla (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae, Trogaspidiini) from the Oriental Region, with review of species

“…Remarks. Only three mutillid species have been recorded from Bali, namely Arkaditilla nallinia, Krombeinidia griseomaculata (André, 1898), and Mickelomyrme pusillaeformis (Hammer, 1962) ( Zavattari 1914;Lelej 2005;Okayasu 2020; current data), although Zavattari's record of K. griseomaculata was not accepted by Lelej (2005) and Mickel (1935). Field surveys in this small island will be useful for discovery of the female of Arkaditilla.…”