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Issue: Vol. 5800 No. 1: 30 Apr. 2026
Type: Monograph
Published: 2026-04-30
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5800.1.1
Page range: 1-83
Abstract views: 96
PDF downloaded: 10

When the peaks are not the pinnacle: velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae and Myrmosidae) diversity near the Huachuca Mountains in Arizona, USA

Plant Pest Diagnostics Center; California Department of Food and Agriculture; Sacramento; California; USA
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; San Bernardino-Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuges; P. O. Box 3509; 7628 N. Highway 191; Douglas; AZ 85608
Hymenoptera Cochise County Sierra Vista taxonomy biodiversity pitfall trap malaise trap lantern trap sky islands

Abstract

Southeastern Arizona is widely regarded as a biodiversity hotspot for many organisms, including velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae and Myrmosidae). We collected insects near the western end of the road Kachina Trail, at the shared boundary of the city of Sierra Vista and the census-designated place (CDP) identified as Sierra Vista Southeast, in Cochise County, Arizona at ~1440 meters elevation. Three pitfall trap arrays were placed in different microhabitats, each separated by fewer than 400 meters, and one malaise trap was also placed within 110 meters of two of the traps. These traps were run continuously for 186 days, between April 29 and October 31, 2024. Lantern trap samples were collected on two nights in 2023, then once per month (from May to October) in 2024, and once in 2025. Various mutillids were captured by hand. At the main study site, 3985 velvet ants were collected, representing 76 species. Preliminary analyses and discussions are presented concerning efficiency of different collecting methods, seasonal velvet ant abundance, male and female emergence times, and microhabitat preference based on the specimens collected during 2024. Four collecting methods were used and each obtained at least three species that were unique to that collecting method. An amended pitfall trap design was employed and is discussed. Four guilds of velvet ants (diurnal males, diurnal females, nocturnal males, nocturnal females) each had different peaks of abundance throughout the year. In most species, males were found at the same time or slightly earlier in the year than females and females were found later in the year than males; circumstantial evidence for adult female overwintering was also found for a few species. In pitfall arrays in three microhabitats, most velvet ant species were prevalent in a single trap array, but no species were exclusive to a single microhabitat. There was no strong evidence that females showed a greater degree of microhabitat specificity than males. We also examined other mutillid specimens from Cochise County housed in various museums to assess species richness near Sierra Vista and other sites. Altogether, 115 species were found within the Census Designated Place (CDP) limits of Sierra Vista Southeast. Of these 115 species, only five (4.3%) were apparently sky island endemics, having never found at elevations below 1500 meters (~5000 feet), either in Sierra Vista Southeast or other areas. Conversely, 25 (~22%) of the species found in Sierra Vista Southeast were never found at elevations above 1500 meters. Brief species accounts are provided for each of the 115 species found in Sierra Vista Southeast; habitus images are provided for the 76 species found at the main Kachina Trail study site. A new species, Myrmosula kachina Williams, sp. nov., is described based on both sexes. An aberrant male of Sphaeropthalma difficilis (Baker, 1905) is also figured and discussed.

 

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How to Cite

Williams, K.A. & Radke, W.R. (2026) When the peaks are not the pinnacle: velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae and Myrmosidae) diversity near the Huachuca Mountains in Arizona, USA. Zootaxa, 5800 (1), 1–83. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5800.1.1