History of Invreiella Suárez

The first researcher to make contributions to Invreiella was Gerstaecker (1874) who described Mutilla cardinalis and M. satrapa. Additional species were described shortly thereafter: Mutilla macrocephala Smith, 1879, Sphaeophthalma [sic] jocularis Cameron, 1894, and S. megacantha Cockerell & Casad, 1894. Dalla Torre (1897) synonymized all described mutillid genera with Mutilla Linnaeus, 1758, which created numerous species-level homonyms. Consequently, Mutilla ganahlii Dalla Torre, 1897 was the new name assigned to Mutilla macrocephala Smith, 1879, nec Olivier, 1811. An additional species, Pseudomethoca cephalargia Mickel, 1924, was also described. Most of these species languished in Mutilla or Sphaeropthalma Blake, 1871, until Mickel (1937, 1964) transferred them to Pseudomethoca Ashmead, 1896. Additionally, he synonymized several names: S. jocularis Cameron and S. megacantha Cockerell & Casad under P. cardinalis (Gerstaecker), and M. macrocephala Smith and M. ganahlii Dalla Torre under P. satrapa (Gerstaecker) (Mickel 1964). C. Mickel’s decisions were based on his study of the type specimens more than thirty years earlier. While the placement of these species in Pseudomethoca was a substantially more accurate representation of their phylogenetic affinity than Mutilla, it was not entirely on point; Pseudomethoca has long been recognized as a heterogeneous assemblage of taxa (Suárez 1962; Quintero & Cambra 2011; pers. obs.). Few studies have aimed to resolve this problem likely due to the enormity and complexity of the task.

Among the few who have attempted work on the Pseudomethoca issue, Suárez (1962) examined specimens of Pseudomethoca and Sphinctopsis Mickel in preparation for his description of a new genus, Hoplognathoca Suárez. He noted genus-level differences between the type species of Pseudomethoca and Sphinctopsis (Mutilla frigida Smith, 1855 (figs 23, 79, 110) and M. melanocephala Perty, 1833 (= M. spixi Diller, 1990), respectively), as well as some species placed incorrectly in Mutilla, including Mutilla jocularis Cameron (= I. cardinalis). Suárez (1966), thus, described Invreiella, a patronym dedicated to the Italian hymenopterist Fabio Invrea. Suárez transferred two species into the new genus: I. cardinalis (Gerstaecker) and I. satrapa (Gerstaecker), along with their respective synonyms published by Mickel (1964). Suárez considered the genus to be near Pseudomethoca (sensu stricto), or possibly a subgenus thereof (Suárez 1966).

Lastly, a revision of Invreiella was recently published by Quintero & Cambra (2011), who redescribed I. cardinalis as a new species (I. curoei Quintero & Cambra), included a key to species, and provided distribution data for their concepts of I. cardinalis and I. satrapa.