The diversity of nocturnal velvet ants at Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP) is investigated along with seasonal activity. The diversity of velvet ants found at JTNP is compared to the diversity of velvet ants found at the Algodones Sand Dunes, Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and the Nevada Test Site. Diagnoses and a key are provided for the velvet ants of JTNP. Forty-one species in six genera, based on 10,202 specimens collected from a transect of 14 sampling sites transitioning from the Mojave to the Sonoran deserts, are found to inhabit areas in and around the park. Odontophotopsis dalyi, O. odontoloxia and Photomorphus schoenwerthi are described as new species . Odontophotopsis ( Odontophotopsis ) ambigua Mickel (1983) is a junior synonym of O. delodonta Viereck (1904), new synonym. The females of too few of the species are known, so only the males are treated. A key to all of the species and illustrations for those species not previously illustrated are provided for the males.

Nocturnal Velvet Ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) of Joshua Tree National Park, Riverside County, California with the description of three new species

This study aimed to resolve the differences in the two currently used classifications of Mutillidae, which differ in many respects. Cladistic analyses of 101 genera and subgenera of Mutillidae (represented by females of 253 species and males of 260 species) and four outgroups (pepsine Pompilidae, anthoboscine Tiphiidae and both fedtschenkiine and sapygine Sapygidae) based on 230 morphological characters treated in various ways, produced most-parsimonious trees which were in broad agreement but differed in many details. Evaluation of these results led to the proposal of a compromise tree which reflected each proposed taxon as monophyletic, while trying to keep disruptions to the current classifications to a minimum. The result differs from both previous classifications, and proposes the recognition of eight subfamilies: Myrmosinae (with the tribes Kudakrumiini and Myrmosini), Pseudophotopsidinae, Rhopalomutillinae, Ticoplinae (with the tribes Smicromyrmillini and Ticoplini), Sphaeropthalminae (with the tribes Sphaeropthalmini, Dasymutillini trib. n., and Pseudomethocini with the subtribes Euspinoliina subtrib. n. and Pseudomethocina), Myrmillinae, Dasylabrinae (with the tribes Apteromutillini trib. n. and Dasylabrini) and Mutillinae (with the tribes Ctenotillini trib. n., Smicromyrmini, Mutillini with the subtribes Ephutina and Mutillina, and Trogaspidiini). Notably, Myrmosinae were consistently strongly supported as monophyletic with the remaining Mutillidae (disagreeing with a recent molecular analysis), and thus retained as a mutillid subfamily. The placements of all currently valid genera and subgenera in the proposed classification are provided.

Phylogeny and higher classification of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) based on morphological reanalyses

Explanations for the ecological dominance of ants generally focus on the benefits of division of labour and cooperation during foraging. However, the principal innovation of ants relative to their wasp ancestors was the evolution of a new phenotype: a wingless worker caste optimized for ground labour. Ant workers are famous for their ability to lift and carry heavy loads, but we know surprisingly little about the morphological basis of their strength. Here we examine the consequences of the universal loss of flight in ant workers on skeletomuscular adaptations in the thorax for enhanced foraging on six legs. Using X-ray microcomputed tomography and 3D segmentation, we compared winged queens and wingless workers in Euponera sikorae (subfamily Ponerinae) and Cataglyphis savignyi (subfamily Formicinae). Workers are characterized by five major changes to their thorax: i) fusion of the articulated flight thorax (queens) into a rigid box optimized to support the muscles that operate the head, legs and abdomen, ii) redesign of internal cuticular structures for better bracing and muscle attachment, iii) substantial enlargement of the neck muscles for suspending and moving the head, iv) lengthening of the external trochanter muscles, predominant for the leg actions that lift the body off the ground, v) modified angle of the petiole muscles that are key for flexion of the abdomen. We measured volumes and pennation angles for a few key muscles to assess their increased efficacy. Our comparisons of additional workers across five genera in subfamilies Dorylinae and Myrmicinae show these modifications in the wingless thorax to be consistent. In contrast, a mutillid wasp showed a different pattern of muscle adaptations resulting from the lack of wing muscles. Rather than simply a subtraction of costly flight muscles, we propose the ant worker thorax evolved into a power core underlying stronger mandibles, legs, and sting. This contrasts with solitary flightless insects where the lack of central place foraging generated distinct selective pressures for rearranging the thorax. Stronger emphasis is needed on morphological innovations of social insects to further our understanding of the evolution of social behaviours.

/pdf/the-loss-of-flight-in-ant-workers-enabled-an-evolutionary-4qb1exemk7.pdf

The loss of flight in ant workers enabled an evolutionary redesign of the thorax for ground labour

Parasitoid wasps are the most successful group of insect parasitoids, comprising more than half the known diversity of Hymenoptera and probably most of the unknown diversity. This lifestyle has enabled them to be used as pest control agents conferring substantial economic benefits to global agriculture. Major lineages of parasitoid wasps include Ichneumonoidea, Ceraphronoidea, Proctotrupomorpha, and a number of aculeate families. The parasitoid lifestyle arose only once among basal Hymenoptera, in the common ancestor of the Orussidae and Apocrita some 200+ Ma ago. The ancestral parasitoid wasp was probably an idiobiont on wood-living beetle larvae. From this comparatively simple biology, Hymenoptera radiated into an incredible diversity of hosts and parasitoid lifestyles, including hyperparasitoidism, kleptoparasitoidism, egg parasitoidism, and polyembryony, in several instances co-opting viruses to subdue their hosts. Many lineages evolved beyond the parasitoid niche, becoming secondarily herbivorous or predatory nest provisioners and eventually giving rise to most instances of insect societies. 

Biodiversity of hymenopteran parasitoids.

Although some species of Cryptocephalinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) have been documented with ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for almost 200 years, information on this association is fragmentary. This contribution synthesizes extant literature and analysizes the data for biological patterns. Myrmecophily is more common in the tribe Clytrini than in Cryptocephalini, but not documented for Fulcidacini or the closely-related Lamprosomatinae. Myrmecophilous cryptocephalines (34 species in 14 genera) primarily live among formicine and myrmecines ants as hosts. These two ant lineages are putative sister-groups, with their root-node dated to between 77-90 mya. In the New World tropics, the relatively recent radiation of ants from moist forests to more xeric ecosystems might have propelled the association of cryptocephalines and ant nests. Literature records suggest that the defensive behavioral profile or chemical profile (or both) of these ants has been exploited by cryptocephalines. Another pattern appears to be that specialized natural enemies, especially parasitoid Hymenoptera, exploit cryptocephaline beetles inside the ant nests. With the extant data at hand, based on the minimum age of a fossil larva dated to 45 mya, we can infer that the origin of cryptocephaline myrmecophily could have arisen within the Upper Cretaceous or later. It remains unknown how many times myrmecophily has appeared, or how old is the behavior. This uncertainty is compounded by incongruent hypotheses about the origins of Chrysomelidae and angiosperm-associated lineages of cryptocephalines. Living with ants offers multiple advantages that might have aided the colonization of xeric environments by some cryptocephaline species.

https://zookeys.pensoft.net/lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=download_pdf&item_id=6098

Leaf beetles are ant-nest beetles: the curious life of the juvenile stages of case-bearers (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Cryptocephalinae)

The larvae of mutillid wasps are parasitoids of insect host stages which are not actively feeding and are enclosed in some sort of package (cell, cocoon, puparium). The literature dealing with mutillids living in association with eusocial insects is surveyed and evaluated, and some new host records are provided. Relatively few mutillid species are involved despite the potential for prolific reproduction on social hosts. The problems faced by such parasitoids are greater than those encountered when using solitary hosts. Several species of mutillids parasitise social halictine bees, a few parasitise bumble bees and a few occasionally attack honey bees; a few are parasitoids of commensals or symbionts of ants. Their possible occurrence in the nests of other eusocial insects is briefly discussed.

Associations of mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) with eusocial insects.

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Associations of mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) with eusocial insects.