Muskovits József - György Zoltán - Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Magyarország hangyadarazsai - Natura Somogyiensis 18. (Kaposvár, 2011)
Morphology
100 NATURA SOMOGYIENSIS Morphology The sexual dimorphism of male and female velvet ants is conspicuous. Females of all species are apterous, whereas with few exceptions (eg. species of the subgenus Pseudomutilla ) all males in common with other Hymenoptera have two pairs of wings. However, the apterous males of the subgenus Pseudomutilla can still be easily differentiated from the apterous females, because the three mesosomal segments of females are entirely fused, whereas for males they are clearly visible. In the case of the tribe Smicromyrmini the males tend to be much larger than the females, but for all other subfamilies the two sexes are similar in body size. The compound eyes of females are usually small, the ocelli are absent (except for the subfamily Myrmosinae); the three ocelli of the males are normally developed. The size of ocelli, the distance between them or between the ocelli and compound eyes can be characters for identification. Further morphological difference between females and males is the number of antennal segments (12 for females and 13 for males). The visible metasomal segments are 7 in males and 6 in females. The head of velvet ants is orthognathous, that is the mandibles point perpendicularly downward from the body's longitudinal axis. Mandibles are considered unidentate if no further teeh are present under the pointed apex; bidentate if there is one, tridentate if there are two, and quadridentate if there are three further teeth under the apex. The shape of clypeus, the tubercles on it, the sculpture of its surface, the shape of mandibles and dentations are all important identification characters. In many velvet ant species a peculiar, rather characteristic felt line is seen on the sides of metasomal segment 2, except for the subfamily Myrmosinae, which is free of this feature. The felt line consists of setae covering the gland opening. Some Mutillidae species have stridulating organs. They rub together the corrugated surfaces of tergite 2 and 3 to produce sound. When agitated, larger species such as Mutilla europaea or Ronisia brutia produce strong, well-audible sound. The role of stridulation is not yet clarified, but perhaps it has something to do with defence against predators. In many species the females have pygidium on tergite 6. The shape and sculpturing of pygidium are important identification characters. The hypopygium of the males is simple, though often it has 2 or 4 lateral processes. The shape of male genitalia is one of the most important identification characters. The body of velvet ants is heavily punctate and in most cases densely covered by pubescence. Some hairs sparsely covering the body are long and upright; others are shorter, thicker, shiny and appressed to the surface. „Pale" in our usage means white, golden, yellowish white, greyish and light gray. The pale pubescence frequently forms patterns of bands and spots characteristic for the species, especially on females. „Dark" in our usage means black, dark brown, dark chestnut brown and tar brown. The mesosoma of most female velvet ants occurring in Hungary is coloured red,
