THE FEMALE SEX OF THE MUTILLIDAE SUBFAMILY 
EOTILLINAE (HYMENOPTERA)' 1 
By Clarence E. Mickel 
University of Minnesota, St. Paul 
The subfamily Eotillinae was proposed by Schuster (1949) to 
include two new genera, Prototilla from the Argentine Republic and 
Eotilla from Chile, both based only on the male sex. A female of 
this subfamily was recently sent to me by Dr. Howard E. Evans, 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass., with the com- 
ment that it had been included in a shipment of ants sent by the In- 
stitute Miguel Lillo, Tucuman, Argentine Republic. The data label 
on the specimen listed only “Covunco” as the locality, without indica- 
tion of province or country. Covunco is situated in the province of 
Neuquen, Argentine Republic, at 70.15 W and 38.31 S. 
Four possibilities present themselves for the identification of this 
specimen, there being no biological or other evidence to correlate 
this female with any described male : ( 1 ) it may be the female of 
Eotilla mickeli Schuster, which was recorded from a number of lo- 
calities in Chile in the original description; it agrees with this male 
in having unarmed tarsal claws, but it differs in lacking a distinct 
petiole, in having the pedicel of the antennae longer than the first 
flagellar segment and in the distribution pattern of the waxy-white 
plumose scales on the thorax and abdomen; (2) it may represent an 
undescribed species of the genus Eotilla ; without any information as 
to the specific characters of Eotilla females and in particular of Eotilla 
mickeli Schuster, there is no basis for making a decision on this alter- 
native; (3) it may be the female sex of Prototilla anomala Schuster 
described from “Argentina”, but without any other information as 
to locality; it differs from the male Prototilla anomala in having the 
claws unarmed, in having the abdomen entirely black, and in lacking 
any white subplumose vestiture; (4) it may represent an undescribed 
species of the genus Prototilla ; here again, without any information 
as to the specific characters of Prototilla females, there is no basis 
for making a decision ; in fact, the only circumstance that would 
justify placing this specimen in the genus Prototilla is that both come 
from the Argentine Republic, while Eotilla is only recorded from 
J Paper No. 6317 Scientific Journal Series, Minnesota Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101. 
Manuscript received by the editor October 3, 1967. 
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