Entomofauna, ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ENTOMOLOGIE VOL 16-0029-0119

Entomofauna ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ENTOMOLOGIE Band 16, Heft 5: 29-120 ISSN 0250-4413 Ansfelden, 10 April 1995 Recherches sur les Mutillides de l'Afrique XVII Note pour servir a la Connaissance du genre Pristomutilla ASHMEAD, 1903 (#$) avec description du male encore inconnu du genre, d'especes nouvelles du genre et des nouveaux sous-genres Diacanthotilla ($$) et Acanthomutilla ($$) (Hymenoptera, Mutillidae) GUIDO NONVEILLER Abstracl A survey is given of the different phases in the study of the genus Pristomutilla since the time it was proposed by ASHMEAD in 1903 Rejected at first by ANDRE (1904), but then accepted by BISCHOFF (1920), INVREA (1936, 1941) and ARNOLD (1956), it was reduced to the level of a sub-genus of Smicromyrme THOMSON, 1860 by BRADLEY & BEQUAERT (1923, 1928) who included in this subgenus, as Synonyms, the genera Viereckia ASHMEAD, 1903 and Ceratotilla BISCHOFF, 1920, as well as a small groupe of three species described by BISCHOFF (1920) and ranged in the genus Trogaspidia ASHMEAD, 1899 Finally, KROMBEIN (1951), who omitted to give any explanation for his Statement, considered Pristomutilla as a subgenus of the american genus Timulla ASHMEAD, 1899, represented in the Old world by the subgenus Trogaspidia (sensu SCHUSTER, 1949) The taxonomic position of the genus Pristomutilla is considered in this paper in relation to related genera, such as Ceratotilla and the Cephalotilla group, which females show similar morphological and chromatical pecularities as the females of Pristomutilla, the only sex of the genus Pristomutilla so far known in the past In the contribution 60 species of the genus have been studied, 29 of which are new ones, described for the first time, as well as the male of the genus formerly not recorded and established by the observation of several couples of different species taken in copula in Cameroun by the author during his stay in this country between 1962 and 1975 Two females, diacanlha and curtispinosa, described by BlSCHOFF (1920) in the genus Pristomutilla differ in some of their morphological pecularities from all other females of the genus so that two subgenera, Diacanthotilla for the first and Acanthomutilla for the second 29 species have been proposed provisionally untill more information would be available, especially by the knowledge of the respective males As any morphological character could be found in the females (the number of the so far known males is insignificant) to proceed to a phyletical grouping of the species inside the genus, the number of bands of appressed pubescent hairs on the abdominal tergites has been provisory taken in consideration for that purpose: the presence of one, two or three bands on tergites to A biogeographical and zoogeographical analysis is added Of the total number of the species studied in the contribution, 18 species, i.e nearly 30%, are recorded from Cameroun (8 of which are new ones), as a result of extensive collecting activity during 13 years of sojourn of the author in the country They occur in all identified biogeographical zones, except in the costal savannas, its Mutillids fauna in Central and Westem Africa being very poor A third of Cameroun's fauna belong to the silvatic one, and nearly the same number is spread in the dry savanna and steppic zones of North Cameroun A second area of the continent, relatively rieh in representatives of the genus, is the extreme Eastem part of Africa, particularly Tanzania and Kenya (9 species each) and Somalia (12 species, of which are new ones), often visited in the past by Italian entomologists, and in recent years by R MURGLIA from Turin as well as by the author Other parts of the continent are poorly explored It seems that representatives of the genus occur neither in the extreme North nor in the extreme South of the afrotropical region New subgenera: Acanthomutilla ($$) forPristomutilla curtispinosa BlSCHOFF, 1920: 526 ($) and Diacanthotilla ( $ ? ) for Pristomutilla diacantha BlSCHOFF, 1920: 529 ($) The following species have been transfered into the genus Pristomutilla: Ctenotilla sessiliventris BlSCHOFF, 1920: 543 ($), Ctenotilla kameruna BlSCHOFF, 1920: 543 ($), Mutilla magrettina MERCET, 1916: 351 (?) and Squamulotilla acanthogastra BlSCHOFF, 1920: 80 (c?) New species: alticola ($), bispina ($), meigangana (