Gnamptogenys haenschi Emery 1902

Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia

worker face view

worker lateral view

Range

Costa Rica south through tropical South America (Lattke 1995). Costa Rica: known from Osa Peninsula and La Selva Biological Station.

Identification

Promesonotal suture nearly absent across the dorsum, faintly indicated by an impressed line that does not break the sculpture; scapes just barely reach, but do not distinctly surpass, margin of vertex when laid back; dorsal surfaces of mandibles entirely striate, from base to apices; eyes very small; head width greater than 1.2mm.

Notes

Gnamptogenys haenschi inhabits mature wet forest habitats, but it has also been collected in oil palm plantations (Lattke 1995). Lattke reports a collection from carrion traps baited with iguana meat. In Costa Rica, the species is either very rare or its behavior makes it difficult to observe. It does not appear to regularly forage on the surface. I have found workers under logs, in the soft rotten wood at the soil interface. The workers quickly burrow out of sight when exposed.

Type data

Gnamptogenys haenschi Emery 1902:27. Type queen: Ecuador, Coca.

Literature Cited

Emery, C. 1902. Note mirmecologiche. Rendito Accademia di Scienza Istituto Bologna, (n. s.) 6:22-34.

Lattke, J. E. 1995. Revision of the ant genus Gnamptogenys in the New World (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 4:137-193.


Page author:

John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu


Date of this version: 4 December 1998
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