Close-up of printed dichotomous key from a scientific journal. All but one couplet is blurred. The unblurred couplet reads as follows: 12. Femora densely clothed beneath with long hairs.....oceola (Blake) Femora sparsely pubescent beneath........................................13

Left quarter profile view of a pinned male velvet-ant, Pseudomethoca oceola. The body is black except the first abdominal segment is ferruginous. The wings are dusky, the body is punctate and covered with fairly dense, erect dark orange and black hairs. There is an orange arrow in the picture, pointing to the ventral edge of the hind femur, where there is a dense fringe of long, erect hairs. The back ground is grey and the black-enameled insect pin is visible, passing from the top of the image, through the specimen's thorax, and out of the bottom of the image.

Dichotomous identification keys sometimes direct users to find and interpret obscure, often qualitative characters & character states—these can befuddle even seasoned users.

This, however, this is NOT one of those characters. 🤓

#Mutillidae
#Taxonomy
#NaturalHistoryCollections
#FairlyConfident