First records of the genus Allotilla Schuster , 1949 ( Hymenoptera , Mutillidae ) in Brazil

The monotypic genus Allotilla Schuster, 1949, previously known only from the Chaco biogeographic province of Argentina and Paraguay, is recorded for the first time in Brazil. These new records extend the known range of the genus to a new biogeographic dominion.

The genus Allotilla Schuster, 1949 was erected to include a single new species, A. gibbosa Shuster, 1949, which was described based on a single male from Córdoba, Argentina (Schuster 1949).The female was later described by Quintero and Cambra (2006) based on five specimens from three different localities in the Boquerón department, Paraguay.Several males from Boquerón and Presidente Hayes departments were also studied, which were the basis for illustrations of certain structures of the females and male genitalia.Quintero and Cambra (2006) also provided a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis to assess the relationship and position of Allotilla with other Neotropical mutillid genera.Finally, the same authors presented several hypotheses regarding the biology and origin of the genus based on its apparent phylogenetic proximity to the nocturnal sphaeropthalmine genera Limaytilla Casal, 1964 andScaptodactyla Burmeister, 1854.To date, the known range of the genus Allotilla was restricted to the Chaco biogeographic province (sensu Morrone 2014) of Argentina and Paraguay.Herein, we present the first records of the genus in Brazil and expand its geographical distribution to two additional biogeographic provinces.
Activity periods of the genus Allotilla were previously unknown, although some morphological traits of the females suggest that they spend most of their lives Females of A. gibbosa are similar to Scaptodactyla Burmeister, 1854 and Limaytilla Casal, 1964 in having the antennal tubercles armed with a carina and having predominantly brown coloration.They differ from these nocturnal genera by their small eyes, in which the horizontal eye length is shorter than the genal length in lateral view (eye width greater than genal width in Scaptodactyla and Limaytilla), and in having the metasomal tergal fringes formed of sparse brachyplumose setae (tergal fringes plumose and generally dense in Scaptodactyla and Limaytilla).The males of A. gibbosa are similar to males of Euspinolia Ashmead, 1903 but can be separated from this genus by having the marginal cell shorter than the pterostigma, and by having tibial spurs white.
The Chaco province belongs to the Chacoan dominion, and comprises areas in the southern Bolivia, western Paraguay, southern Brazil and north-central Argentina.The Cerrado province also belongs to the Cachoan dominion, and comprises areas in the southcentral Brazil, northeastern Paraguay and Bolivia while the Araucaria Forest province (Parana dominion) is restricted to southern Brazil and northeastern Argentina in areas between 600 and 1,800 m altitude (Morrone 2000(Morrone , 2001(Morrone , 2006(Morrone , 2014)).The occurrence of the genus Allotilla in Porto Murtinho (Figure 5) is expected, because other authors (e.g., Souza et al. 2010;Auko and Silvestre 2015) have reported the presence of faunal components of the Chaco province in this  underground, with hypogeal and burrowing habits, and that they are probably parasites of small ground-nesting aculeate Hymenoptera (Quintero and Cambra 2006).Male morphology indicates diurnal behavior, in that the ocelli are small and the integument is dark (Figures 3 and  4).One female Allotilla was observed, but not collected, crawling on a sandy trail during mid-morning in San Luis province Argentina on 20 March 2015 by KAW.This is tentative verification for the diurnal habits of Allotilla.
Although the genus is well-defined and we are confident that these Brazilian specimens belong in Allotilla, we cannot verify whether they are conspecific with A. gibbosa from Argentina.The holotype was unavailable for study (out on loan) when one of us (KAW) visited the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.Additionally, a definitive species placement would require detailed examination of multiple characters in a large series of specimens, which is not yet possible and is beyond the scope of this paper.We hope that this present observation on Brazilian Allotilla will serve as a catalyst for more extensive studies in this genus by ourselves or other authors.

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Map showing the known distribution of the genus Allotilla Schuster, 1949, including the three new records (in red) for Brazil reported here.