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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Velvet Ants (Mutillidae) » Pseudomethoca » Pseudomethoca frigida
Photo#142019
sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female
Copyright © 2007 Jim McClarin

sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - Female
Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
August 12, 2007
Size: about 5 mm
I'm not a big mutillid collector so it probably means little to say that this is the smallest I've seen. It was also unexpected. I've never seen one on anything but soil. What was this one doing up a plant stalk where my sweep net could scoop it up?

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sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female sweep net velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female
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Contributed by Jim McClarin on 1 September, 2007 - 8:58pm
Last updated 7 September, 2007 - 5:42pm

Moved
Moved from Velvet Ants.
… Jim McClarin, 7 September, 2007 - 5:42pm login or register to post comments

Pseudomethoca sp.
This is a female Pseudomethoca sp.. Both females and males look for nectar and water on plants, so you will occasionally find some there.

I caught a female Pseudomethoca today by accidentally sweeping my net against tall weeds when trying to catch another wasp, so they're definitely in there sometimes!

This could possibly be identified to species (or narrowed down to a few); I would leave it in the Mutillidae section before moving it to genus so it can be seen.
… George Waldren, 2 September, 2007 - 12:23am login or register to post comments

 
Pseudomethoca frigida
I did some keying, and this is P. frigida based on size, range, and the dentate + spinose head.
… George Waldren, 7 September, 2007 - 4:45pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks for all the hard work, George.
I'll let Don Chandler know at UNH. I suspect he'll want the specimen, which should double the representation for this genus in the UNH holdings.
… Jim McClarin, 7 September, 2007 - 5:32pm login or register to post comments

 
Thank you, George.
There is only one Pseudomethoca on the University of New Hampshire checklist, P. simi*llima, and it is not a match.
… Jim McClarin, 2 September, 2007 - 1:21am login or register to post comments

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