Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies (Pompiloidea) » Velvet Ants (Mutillidae) » Sphaeropthalminae » Pseudomethocini » Pseudomethoca

Genus Pseudomethoca

small velvet ant - Pseudomethoca frigida - female

unknown Mutillid - Pseudomethoca simillima - female

Velvet Ant sp - Pseudomethoca anthracina - female

Dasymutilla or Pseudomethoca - Pseudomethoca anthracina

Looks a type of ant - Pseudomethoca simillima

Which Pseudomethoca? - Pseudomethoca simillima - female

Mutillid - Pseudomethoca sanbornii - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)

No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)

Superfamily Pompiloidea (Spider Wasps, Velvet Ants and allies)

Family Mutillidae (Velvet Ants)

Subfamily Sphaeropthalminae

Tribe Pseudomethocini

Genus Pseudomethoca

Explanation of Names

Pseudomethoca Ashmead 1896

Numbers

42 spp. in our area(1)(2)

Identification

Characters of this genus (3):

eyes circular to slightly ovate (egg-shaped)

head less than twice the width of mesosoma (middle body segment); head not toothed

mesosoma narrowed in middle

pygidium usually with lateral carinae (strong ridges)

Internet References

Taxon page

Works Cited

1.	Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.

2.	A key to genera and subgenera of Mutillidae (Hymenoptera) in America North of Mexico with description of a new genus Manley D.G., Pitts J.P. 2002. J. Hym. Res. 11: 72-100.

3.	Velvet Ants, Mutillidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) Jeffrey C. Hertz. 2007. University of Florida, IFAS Extension.

Contributed by Joel Kits on 17 March, 2005 - 11:23pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, v belov, metrioptera, PaleoJon, Arturo Santos
Last updated 6 June, 2023 - 8:53pm

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