I checked the book (second edition) pages 340-1 and can't find any reference to the cochineal insect. Do you know where this info came from? (I have an interest in Cochineal and know there's a wasp associated with its microhabitat.)

On this specimen, the head wider than the thorax indicates Dasymutilla aureola pacifica, and I'm looking for a yea or nay on that point.

Because of the large head and short thorax, this is certainly D. aureola var. pacifica. I prefer not to use subspecies classifications in Mutillidae, especially because the coloration is so variable. Typical D. aureola specimens are more yellow in color, but there are many intermediate forms.

Dasymutilla coccinea is actually an old name for D. occidentalis, the easter cow killer. I think that the authors of the Insects of LA book mistook the name for D. coccineohirta, which lives throughout California and often has red coloration. It is very similar to D. aureola, but the thoracic shape of this specimen in diagnostic of D. aureola.

The cochineal thing had me baffled.

Im not sure where they got the D. coccinea stuff in the book, but it seems to be listed in some other references and guides too. The funny part is that D. coccineohirta ranges from almost pure white to brilliant red in hair color. Usually less than half of all D. coccineohirta specimens are even red.