Abstract
Most velvet ants (Mutillidae) are solitary ectoparasitoids of the enclosed immatures of other insects: Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Blattodea (Brothers et al. 2000, Amini et al. 2014). The genus Traumatomutilla Andrė, 1901, of the subfamily Sphaeropthalminae, tribe Sphaeropthalmini (Sphaeropthalmina sensu Brothers), is one of the most diverse groups of this family in the New World tropics, with 175 species (Nonveiller 1990). The biology and behavior of its species, however, are virtually unknown and the only information regarding host associations for Traumatomutilla is either the result of misidentification or has been erroneously referenced.