= Labidus curvipes (Emery 1900), probable junior synonym.
Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica (type locality), Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil (AM). Costa Rica: in wet forest areas throughout.
Identification
Worker: color brown; face microsculptured, matte; mesosoma relatively gracile, dorsal face of propodeum as long as or longer than posterior face; ventral margin of petiole with a pronounced anteroventral tooth.
Similar species: praedator, JTL-001.
Natural History
This species is morphologically nearly identical to L. praedator, differing only in the presence of a ventral petiolar spine. Its behavior and general habitat preferences also seem the same. Like L. praedator, it can be found in lowland wet forests, but reaches highest density at mid-elevation sites. Labidus spininodis is less often encountered than L. praedator, and I have a slight sense that L. spininodis prefers primary forest areas while L. praedator can be found abundantly in second growth.
Labidus spininodis has massive carpet raids, like L. praedator.
Males of L. spininodis (L. curvipes, see below) are not attracted to lights and are possibly diurnal. The ALAS project, a large-scale arthropod survey based at La Selva Biological Station, has collected four males. One was in a Malaise trap at La Selva. The other three were in one Malaise trap sample and two flight intercept trap samples from the 500m site on the Barva transect. No male has ever been captured in the extensive programs of blacklight sampling. In contrast, males of L. praedator occasionally occur in blacklight samples.
Comments
By a process of elimination and geographic correspondence, L. curvipes, a species known only from males, must be the male of L. spininodis.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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