PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE MUTILLIDAE OF 
MINNESOTA WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF 
THREE NEW SPECIES? 
By CLARENCE E. MIcCKEL 
During the summer of 1922, in the course of an ecological study 
of the sand dune area just north of Minneapolis, a large blowout was 
found to be literally swarming with solitary wasps. In fact, these 
insects were so numerous that it is doubtful if a square foot of ground 
could have been found in the whole ten acres that did not harbor sev- 
eral of them. The fauna included a great many species but the most 
conspicuous, in point of numbers, belonged to the families Bembicidae, 
Sphecidae, and Mutillidae. The Bembicids were especially numerous, 
were to be seen everywhere, and the ground was honeycombed with 
their burrows. The Sphecids were busy everywhere digging their 
nests, bringing caterpillars for provisions, and putting the finishing 
touches on their completed nests. Mutillids were universally present, 
the females running over the ground, and the males flying overhead, 
a foot or two above the ground. The number of Mutillids was rather 
remarkable since they are usually seen in small numbers, one or two 
individuals at a time. It was at once evident from an examination 
of a few representative specimens that several species of Mutillids were 
involved in the fauna of this sand dune area. Therefore an attempt 
was made during the season to collect a large number, hoping thereby 
to obtain specimens of all the species present. This collection and 
other specimens taken in other parts of the state during the year and 
a few collected in previous years, form the basis of this paper. 
The blowout mentioned above is located in a sand dune area in 
the most southern part of Anoka county, about one mile east of the 
town of Fridley, and about two miles north of the Minneapolis city 
limits. It is about ten acres in area, and is practically barren except 
for a few spots which are sparsely covered with short vegetation. 
There are several other blowouts in the same vicinity but none are so 
large or have so abundant’a fauna of solitary wasps as this one. The 
soil of the surrounding country is sandy but in most places is covered 
with vegetation and is not blown about by the wind. The adjacent 
territory is for the most part virgin prairie, altho on the southeast 
1 Published with the approval of the director as Paper No. 391 of the Journal Series 
of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. 
