Are diurnal iguanian lizards the evolutionary drivers of New World female velvet ant (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) Müllerian mimicry rings?

Although several recent studies have described a vast mimicry complex among New World mutillid wasps (velvet ants), little is known about the potential predators that could be driving the colour convergence in these wasps. Identifying potential predators can be a necessary part of understanding the evolution of large mimicry complexes because predation pressures likely are a key evolutionary driver of aposematism in these systems. However, pinpointing potential predators is difficult given the rarity of observing predation events in the wild. Furthermore, laboratory-based feeding trials are difficult to design without a priori information about which potential predators should be investigated. In the present study, we explore the potential predator communities that may have driven the evolution of the large North American velvet ant mimicry complex. We hypothesize that potential predators can be identified by examining: (1) distributional similarities between predators and prey; (2) similarities of predator assemblages in areas where convergently coloured prey occur; (3) known dietary preferences of potential predators; and (4) evolutionary concordance (both spatially and temporally) of predator and prey clades. We find that iguanians are likely predators of two of the described mutillid mimicry rings. We hypothesize that the warning coloration of the Black-headed Timulla and Tropical mimicry rings is particularly directed towards dactyloids (anoles). © 2016 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 00, 000–000.