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Mutillidae
The Mutillidae are a family of more than 7,000 species of wasps whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense pile of hair, which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colors serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings, (the sting of the species ''Dasymutilla klugii'' rated a 3 on the Schmidt pain index and lasts up to 30 minutes), and has resulted in the common name "cow killer" or "cow ant" being applied to the species '' Dasymutilla occidentalis.'' However, mutillids are not aggressive and sting only in defense. In addition, the actual toxicity of their venom is much lower than that of honey bees or harvester ants. Unlike true ants, they are solitary, and lack complex social systems. Distribution Mutillidae can be found worldwide with about 230 genera or subgenera and around 8,000 species worldwide. Over 400 species occur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasymutilla
''Dasymutilla'' is a wasp genus belonging to the family Mutillidae. Their larvae are external parasites to various types of ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Members of this genus are highly variable in sting intensity, ranging from a 1 ('' D. thetis'') to a 3 ('' D. klugii'') in the Schmidt sting pain index. Selected Species * ''D. alesia'' * ''D. archboldi'' * ''D. arenivaga'' * ''D. asopus'' * ''D. aureola'' * ''D. bioculata'' * ''D. californica'' * ''D. calorata'' * ''D. chattahoochei'' * ''D. chiron'' * ''D. chisos'' * ''D. coccineohirta'' * ''D. creon'' * ''D. creusa'' * ''D. dilucida'' * ''D. eminentia'' * ''D. foxi'' * ''D. gibbosa'' * ''D. gloriosa'' (thistledown velvet ant) * ''D. gorgon'' * ''D. heliophila'' * ''D. klugii'' * ''D. lepeletierii'' * ''D. magnifica'' * ''D. meracula'' * ''D. monticola'' * ''D. mutata'' * ''D. nigricauda'' * ''D. nigripes'' * ''D. nitidula'' * ''D. nocturna'' * ''D. nogalensis'' * ''D. occidentalis'' (cow ki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasymutilla Klugii
''Dasymutilla'' is a wasp genus belonging to the family Mutillidae. Their larvae are external parasites to various types of ground-nesting Hymenoptera. Members of this genus are highly variable in sting intensity, ranging from a 1 ('' D. thetis'') to a 3 ('' D. klugii'') in the Schmidt sting pain index. Selected Species * ''D. alesia'' * ''D. archboldi'' * ''D. arenivaga'' * ''D. asopus'' * ''D. aureola'' * ''D. bioculata'' * ''D. californica'' * ''D. calorata'' * ''D. chattahoochei'' * ''D. chiron'' * ''D. chisos'' * ''D. coccineohirta'' * ''D. creon'' * ''D. creusa'' * ''D. dilucida'' * ''D. eminentia'' * ''D. foxi'' * ''D. gibbosa'' * ''D. gloriosa'' (thistledown velvet ant) * ''D. gorgon'' * ''D. heliophila'' * ''D. klugii'' * ''D. lepeletierii'' * ''D. magnifica'' * ''D. meracula'' * ''D. monticola'' * ''D. mutata'' * ''D. nigricauda'' * ''D. nigripes'' * ''D. nitidula'' * ''D. nocturna'' * ''D. nogalensis'' * ''D. occidentalis'' (cow k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dasymutilla Occidentalis
''Dasymutilla occidentalis'' (red velvet ant, eastern velvet ant, cow ant or cow killer), is a species of parasitoid wasp native to the eastern United States. It is commonly mistaken for a member of the true ant family, as the female is wingless. The species ranges from Connecticut to Kansas in the north and Florida to Texas in the south. The eastern velvet ant is the largest of the velvet ant species in the eastern United States, attaining an approximate length of 0.75 in (1.9 cm). Adults display aposematic coloration, consisting of black overall coloring with an orange-red pattern on the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen. They are covered in dense, velvet-like hair. Description and biology Commonly mistaken for an ant, because of its appearance and its common name, it is a parasitoid wasp species in which the females are wingless, as is true for all females of Mutillidae. It can be recognized by its distinctive red coloring, with a black stripe that goes across th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vespoidea
Vespoidea is a superfamily of wasps in the order Hymenoptera, although older taxonomic schemes may vary in this categorization, particularly in whether to recognize the superfamilies Scolioidea (for scoliid wasps) or Formicoidea (for ants). Vespoidea includes wasps with a large variety of lifestyles: eusocial, social, and solitary habits, predators, scavengers, parasitoids, and some herbivores. Description Vespoid wasp females have antennae with 10 flagellomeres, while males have 11 flagellomeres. The edge of the pronotum reaches or passes the tegula. Many species display some level of sexual dimorphism. Most species have fully developed wings, but some have reduced or absent wings in one or both sexes. As in other Aculeata, only the females are ever capable of stinging. Phylogenetics and taxonomy Research based on four nuclear genes (elongation factor-1α F2 copy, long-wavelength rhodopsin, wingless and the D2–D3 regions of 28S ribosomal RNA—2700 bp in total) sugge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Müllerian Mimicry
Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and sharing common predators, have come to mimic each other's honest warning signals, to their mutual benefit. The benefit to Müllerian mimics is that predators only need one unpleasant encounter with one member of a set of Müllerian mimics, and thereafter avoid all similar coloration, whether or not it belongs to the same species as the initial encounter. It is named after the German naturalist Fritz Müller, who first proposed the concept in 1878, supporting his theory with the first mathematical model of frequency-dependent selection, one of the first such models anywhere in biology. Müllerian mimicry was first identified in tropical butterflies that shared colourful wing patterns, but it is found in many groups of insects such as bumblebees, and other animals including poison frogs and coral snakes. The mimicry need not be visual; for example, many snakes share a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chyphotidae
The Chyphotidae are a family of wasps similar to the Mutillidae, differing most visibly in the presence, in females, of a suture separating the pronotum from the mesonotum. These species are found primarily in arid regions in the southwestern United States and adjacent regions in Mexico. Taxonomy Recent classifications of Vespoidea ''sensu lato'' (beginning in 2008) removed two of the five genera formerly placed in the family Bradynobaenidae to a separate family Chyphotidae, thus restricting true bradynobaenids to the Old World, with chyphotids being restricted to the New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 .... Genera * '' Chyphotes'' Blake, 1886 * '' Typhoctes'' Ashmead, 1899 References External links Thynnoidea Apocrita families {{Apocrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bradynobaenidae
The Bradynobaenidae are a family of wasps similar to the Mutillidae, differing most visibly in the presence, in females, of a suture separating the pronotum from the mesonotum. These species are often found in arid regions. Recent classifications (beginning in 2008) remove two of the five constituent genera, both from the New World, to a separate family Chyphotidae, thus restricting true bradynobaenids to the Old World. Genera * '' Apterogyna'' Latreille, 1809 * '' Gynecaptera'' Skorikov, 1935 * '' Bradynobaenus'' Spinola, 1851 * '' Macroocula'' Panfilov, 1954 * '' Micatagla'' Argaman, 1994 (at least 54 living species per Gadallah, et al., 2019) Genera placed in Chyphotidae The Chyphotidae are a family of wasps similar to the Mutillidae, differing most visibly in the presence, in females, of a suture separating the pronotum from the mesonotum. These species are found primarily in arid regions in the southwestern Uni ... * '' Chyphotes'' Blake, 1886 * '' Typhoctes'' Ashmead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stridulation
Stridulation is the act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts. This behavior is mostly associated with insects, but other animals are known to do this as well, such as a number of species of fish, snakes and spiders. The mechanism is typically that of one structure with a well-defined lip, ridge, or nodules (the "scraper" or ''plectrum'') being moved across a finely-ridged surface (the "file" or ''stridulitrum''—sometimes called the ''pars stridens'') or vice versa, and vibrating as it does so, like the dragging of a phonograph needle across a vinyl record. Sometimes it is the structure bearing the file which resonates to produce the sound, but in other cases it is the structure bearing the scraper, with both variants possible in related groups. Common onomatopoeic words for the sounds produced by stridulation include ''chirp'' and ''chirrup''. Arthropod stridulation Insects and other arthropods stridulate by rubbing together two parts of the body. These a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aculeata
Aculeata is a subclade of Hymenoptera containing ants, bees, and stinging wasps. The name is a reference to the defining feature of the group, which is the modification of the ovipositor into a stinger. However, many members of the group cannot sting, either retaining the ovipositor, or having lost it altogether. A large part of the clade is parasitic. This group includes all of the eusocial Hymenopterans. It is theorized that the possession of a venomous sting was important in the repeated evolution of eusociality within Hymenoptera. The oldest aculeates are known from the Late Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan, represented by the family Bethylonymidae, which may be para or polyphyletic. Classification The use of the name Aculeata has a long history at the rank of infraorder or division. The Aculeata are a monophyletic, or good natural group, containing all the descendants of a single common ancestor. The Aculeata are therefore maintained as a taxon, either at infr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aposematic
Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or smell, sharp spines, or aggressive nature. These advertising signals may take the form of conspicuous coloration, sounds, odours, or other perceivable characteristics. Aposematic signals are beneficial for both predator and prey, since both avoid potential harm. The term was coined in 1877 by Edward Bagnall Poulton for Alfred Russel Wallace's concept of warning coloration. Aposematism is exploited in Müllerian mimicry, where species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another. By mimicking similarly coloured species, the warning signal to predators is shared, causing them to learn more quickly at less of a cost. A genuine aposematic signal that a species actually possesses chemical or physical defences is not the only way to d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pronotum
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on each side. The prothorax never bears wings in extant insects (except in some cases of atavism), though some fossil groups possessed wing-like projections. All adult insects possess legs on the prothorax, though in a few groups (e.g., the butterfly family Nymphalidae) the forelegs are greatly reduced. In many groups of insects, the pronotum is reduced in size, but in a few it is hypertrophied, such as in all beetles (Coleoptera). In most treehoppers (family Membracidae, order Hemiptera), the pronotum is expanded into often fantastic shapes that enhance their camouflage or mimicry. Similarly, in the Tetrigidae, the pronotum is extended backward to cover the flight wings, supplanting the function of the tegmina. See also *Glossary of entomolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
