Promecilla decora ( Smith, 1879 )

Okayasu, Juriya, Lelej, Arkady S., Williams, Kevin A., Brabant, Craig M., Nguyen, Lien Thi Phuong, Nguyen, Anh Duc, Pham, Thai Hong & Truong, Tuong Thi Cat, 2025, Current knowledge on the velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae, Myrmosidae) of Vietnam: faunal review and new distributional records, Zootaxa 5668 (1), pp. 1-104 : 47-48

Promecilla decora ( Smith, 1879)

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:256F9F95-ABE6-4A6B-AEB1-20DAB1086C1A

( Figs 16A–16D)

Mutilla decora Smith, 1879: 200 , ♀, holotype ♀ (Pulo Penang [= Penang Island], [Penang], [ Malaysia]) [NHMUK]; Dalla Torre

1897: 30; André 1902b: 39. Smicromyrme decora : Pagden 1934b: 465, ♂ ♀; Mickel 1935: 288, ♀; Pagden 1949: 222, ♂ ♀; Chen 1957: 213, ♀; Lelej 1995b:

19. Sinotilla decora : Lelej 2005: 55; Hua 2006: 301; Okayasu 2017: 152, ♀; Okayasu et al. 2018: 303, ♀. Promecilla decora : Brothers & Lelej 2017: 59, ♂ ♀; Barthélémy et al. 2018: 237, ♀; Williams et al. 2019b: 25, ♀; Pagliano et al. 2020: 183; Thaochan et al. 2022: 164, ♀; Boutin & Vilhelmsen 2024: supplementary table S2, S3, ♀; Barthélémy &

Guénard 2025: 76, ♀. Promecilla cf. levinaris ( Chen, 1957) : Barthélémy & Guénard 2025: 76, ♂. Misidentification.

Material examined. 6♂ 5♀. Vietnam: BAC KAN: Ba Be Natl. Park, on steep slope across from dorm annex, 16– 23.V.1995, B. Hubley & J. Swan leg., ROM 956056 [1♂ ROM]; Ba Be, Ba Be National Park , 22.23°N 105.37°E, 200 m alt., 2.V.2006, R. Matsumoto leg. [1♀ OMNH] ; VINH PHUC: Meninh Biodiversity Station, 21°23'18"N 105°42'46"E, 23–25.VI.2014, M. Hauser & N. von Ellenrieder leg., hand collected [1♂ CSCA]; Ngoc Thanh, Me Linh Biodiversity station, 21°23'01.7"N 105°42'40.7"E, 21–30.V.2020, IED’s coll. [= Insect Ecology Department’s collector] leg., MT [= Malaise trap] [1♂ IEBR]; Ngoc Thanh, Me Linh Biodiversity station , 22°16'51"N 105°71'54"E, 10.IV.2021, IED [= Insect Ecology Department] leg., MT [= Malaise trap] [1♂ IEBR], 20.VIII.2021 [1♂ IEBR], 20.XI.2021 [1♂ IEBR]; Ngoc Thanh, Me Linh Biodiversity station , 21°23'03"N 105°42'40"E, 18.VIII.2022, NTPL [= Nguyen Thi Phuong Lien] & TTN [= Tran Thi Ngat] leg. [1♀ IEBR] ; HOA BINH: Tonkin [= North Vietnam ], Hoa Binh, A. de Cooman leg. [2♀ TARI] ; LAM DONG: South Annam Lam Dong Prov. [= Lam Dong], Cat Tien , III.2004, A. Anichkin & A. Evsyunin leg. [1♀ IBSS] .

Identification source. Compared with voucher specimens from Thailand ( Williams et al. 2019b) [THNHM]. Compared with description in Pagden (1949).

Previous record. None.

Distribution. China. Malaysia. Thailand. Vietnam *: Bac Kan, Vinh Phuc, Hoa Binh, Lam Dong. This species was also recorded from Myanmar (Kachin, Shan, Yangon; Magretti 1892: 213) and Indonesia (Java; Zavattari 1910: 9), but these records have not been verified ( Mickel 1935).

Occurrence in Vietnam. March to June, August, November. South China-Vietnam subtropical evergreen forests, Northern Indochina subtropical forests, and Southeast Indochina dry evergreen forests ecoregions. 200 m alt.

Sex association. This species was initially described from the female only. The male was associated by Pagden (1934b) based on males and females reared from the same host and a pair in copula, and was described by Pagden (1949).

Remarks. Pagden (1934b) reared both sexes of this species from the nest cells of a mud-daubing solitary wasp Pison argentatum Shuckard ( Hymenoptera : Crabronidae ). See Starr (2004) for the nesting biology of the host species.