Dasymutilla

Dasymutilla sp.

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Pompiloidea

Familia: Mutillidae
Subfamilia: Sphaeropthalminae
Genus: Dasymutilla
Species: D. aureola – D. paraparadoxa –
Name

Dasymutilla Ashmead, 1899
References
Primary references

Ashmead 1899: J. N. York ent. Soc., 7, 57.

Additional references

Luz, D.R., Williams, K.A. & Bartholomay, P.R. 2016. The mutillid wasps of the Dasymutilla paradoxa species-group (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae). Zootaxa 4193(2): 361–372. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4193.2.10. Reference page.
Williams, K.A. et al. 2012: Systematic review of the Dasymutilla monticola species-group (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae): using phylogenetics to address species-group placement and sex associations. Zootaxa 3554: 1–29. Preview Reference page.

Dasymutilla is a wasp genus belonging to the family Mutillidae. Their larvae are external parasites to various types of ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Members of this genus are highly variable in sting intensity, ranging from a 1 (D. thetis) to a 3 (D. klugii) in the Schmidt sting pain index.[1]
Selected Species

D. alesia
D. archboldi
D. arenivaga
D. asopus
D. aureola
D. bioculata
D. californica
D. calorata
D. chattahoochei
D. chiron
D. chisos
D. coccineohirta
D. creon
D. creusa
D. dilucida
D. eminentia
D. foxi
D. gibbosa
D. gloriosa (thistledown velvet ant)
D. gorgon
D. heliophila
D. klugii
D. lepeletierii
D. magnifica
D. meracula
D. monticola
D. mutata
D. nigricauda
D. nigripes
D. nitidula
D. nocturna
D. nogalensis
D. occidentalis (cow killer)
D. pyrrhus
D. quadriguttata
D. sackenii
D. scaevola
D. sicheliana
D. thetis
D. vesta
D. vestita

Female D. gloriosa
Defenses

Certain members of this genus are known for their painful and venomous sting. On the Starr sting pain scale, at least one velvet ant species (Dasymutilla klugii) outscored 58 species of wasps and bees in the painfulness of its sting, falling short of only the bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), the warrior wasp (Synoeca septentrionalis), and the tarantula hawk (genus Pepsis).[2]

Many species within this genus exhibit Müllerian mimicry. There is an eastern mimicry ring, which includes D. occidentalis and D. vesta, and there is the western mimicry ring, which includes many other species. The effect is to warn off predators by shared aposematic coloration without requiring inexperienced predators to taste and be stung by members of each species separately.[3][4]

Aside from their aposematic coloration, they can produce a loud squeaking noise which also warns potential predators. Their exoskeleton is remarkably strong; experiments concluded that 11 times more force was needed to crush the exoskeleton of a female velvet ant than that of a honey bee.[5]
References

Schmidt, Justin (2016). The Sting of the Wild. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-1-4214-1929-9.
Starr, Christopher K. (1985). "A simple pain scale for field comparison of Hymenopteran stings" (PDF). Journal of Entomological Science. 20 (2): 225–32. doi:10.18474/0749-8004-20.2.225.
Wilson, Joseph S.; Williams, Kevin A.; Forister, Matthew L.; von Dohlen, Carol D.; Pitts, James P. (11 December 2012). "Repeated evolution in overlapping mimicry rings among North American velvet ants". Nature Communications. 3 (1): 1272. Bibcode:2012NatCo...3E1272W. doi:10.1038/ncomms2275. PMID 23232402. icon of an open green padlock
Wilson, Joseph S.; Jahner, Joshua P.; Forister, Matthew L.; Sheehan, Erica S.; Williams, Kevin A.; Pitts, James P. (August 2015). "North American velvet ants form one of the world's largest known Müllerian mimicry complexes". Current Biology. 25 (16): R704–R706. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.053. PMID 26294178. open access

Gall, Brian G.; Spivey, Kari L.; Chapman, Trevor L.; Delph, Robert J.; Brodie, Edmund D.; Wilson, Joseph S. (2018). "The indestructible insect: Velvet ants from across the United States avoid predation by representatives from all major tetrapod clades". Ecology and Evolution. 8 (11): 5852–62. doi:10.1002/ece3.4123. PMC 6010712. PMID 29938098.

Evans, Arthur V. (2007). Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America. Sterling Publishing Co. p. 371. ISBN 9781402741531.
"List of Dasymutilla". Retrieved 2008-09-13.
"Genus Dasymutilla". Retrieved 2008-09-13.
"San Diego Natural History Museum Dasymutilla sp". Archived from the original on 2002-02-25. Retrieved 2008-09-13.