Muskovits József - György Zoltán - Ábrahám Levente (szerk.): Magyarország hangyadarazsai - Natura Somogyiensis 18. (Kaposvár, 2011)

Biology

MAGYARORSZÁG HANGYADARAZSAI - VELVET ANTS OF HUNGARY (MUTILLIDAE) 101 auburn or rusty brown, and metasomal segments often have pale bands and/or spots of pubescence. In many cases the males are uniformly black, the red colour is less extensive, restricted to certain parts of the metasoma. The extent of red colour is an important identification character. A summary and description of morphological terms are Shown on pages 52-56. Fig. 32 displays the body parts of male Mutilla marginata, Fig. 33 shows the head, Fig. 34 the wings, Fig. 35 the leg, and Figs 36-38 the male genitalia together with the terminology for displayed body parts. Biology The life history of velvet ants is not known in full details, thorough observations are available for only very few species. Velvet ants are solitary wasps, they form no social colonies. In general, they prefer warm and dry environments. The apterous females prefer sandy, loessy or clay soil. They tend to inhabit the sides of embankments, roads, sparsely overgrown areas, although less frequently they can be found on dry, bare, chalky soil or even in woods. In mountainous areas they occur primarily in southern, sunny places, on clearings or road sides; they avoid the cool, humid, northern slopes. On the Figs 203-212 some characteristic habitats are shown. The females run quite swiftly on the ground from one hole or crack to another, searching probably the nests of host animals or perhaps merely hide in them. They excitedly move their antennae while searching. They can dig themselves into softer soil surprisingly quickly. The adults are active in mornings, and especially in late afternoons and early evenings. They spend the hottest hours of day hiding in cracks. Velvet ants of Hungary usually occur from May to October, but in favourable weather conditions they can be found from April to November. In the course of summer months, females can be found in the open mainly between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. During later months, when the length of daylight is reduced, they can be active at increasingly earlierx, even during midday. This naturally depends on the orientation of locality; in eastern localities they display earlier activity than in south-western areas. On overcast days they are quite active throughout the day. Before storms, they tend to congregate in large numbers, like many other insects. The relative frequency of some 8700 Hungarian velvet ant specimens examined is shown on histograms, separately for females (Fig. 143) and for males (Fig. 144), as well as jointly (Fig. 145), too. Velvet ants do not build nests for their offspring, instead they use the nests of hosts for ensuring the development of their larvae. They are parasitoids of other aculeate hymenopterans nesting in soil such as Apidae, Vespidae, Sphecidae and Pompilidae. Tropical - and some European - velvet ants can also be parasitoids of insects belonging to orders other than Hymenoptera (flies, beetles and butterflies). Some velvet ant species develop in one or two hosts, whereas others in many different hosts. Whether his sight or the female's pheromone emission aids a male in locating his female partner is not entirely clear, although the latter is the more likely explanation.