Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: worker petiole, lateral view (small, large).
Range
Costa Rica to Amazonia. Costa Rica: Atlantic slope rainforest, to 800m in Penas Blancas Valley.
Identification
Small black species; mesosomal dorsum setose; no carina between mandible and eye; orifice of propodeal spiracle circular, not slit shaped (note that other species may have a circular boss around the spiracular orifice, but orifice itself is slit-shaped); scapes barely attaining margin of vertex; petiole scale-shaped, tapering dorsally; ventral petiolar process with a low, square-cut posterior margin; sides of head lacking erect setae; dorsal and lateral faces of pronotum separated by a feeble, rounded margin.
Natural History
This species inhabits rainforest litter and rotten wood on the forest floor. I have collected it from sifted litter (Winkler samples) from three localities in Costa Rica: Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve, La Selva Biological Station, and Casa Eladio in the Penas Blancas Valley. It is relatively rare.
Type Data
Euponera (Mesoponera) arhuaca Forel 1901:339. Syntype worker, male: Colombia, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, San Antonio.
Literature Cited
Forel, A. 1901. Nouvelles especes de Ponerinae. (Avec und nouveau sous-genre et une espece nouvelle d'Eciton). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 9:325-353.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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