Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Alternate view of face: (reduced, original).
Range
Costa Rica: Cordillera Volcanica Central (Braulio Carrillo National Park, 1070m).
Identification
Mandibles in full-face view linear, elongate and narrow; ventral surface of petiole without spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape with freely projecting hairs; inner margin of mandible without a tooth or distinctly enlarged denticle at or near the midlength; labral lobes short, trigger hairs at apices of lobes long; outer margins of mandibles relatively straight; mandibles short and thick, with inner margin convex; mandible with exactly 2 small preapical teeth and no denticles; ground pilosity of head abundant and conspicuous; erect setae on gaster remiform; katepisternum and part of side of propodeum smooth and shining.
HL 0.695, ML 0.397, HW 0.568, SL 0.330, CI 82, MI 57.
Similar species: JTL-007.
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999, 2000).
This species is known only from the 1100m site on the Barva transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park. A colony was discovered during a 2001 Project ALAS expedition to the site. The habitat was cloud forest. The populous nest was under an epiphyte mat in a recent treefall. I found workers and brood, but no sexuals. Subsequent workers were obtained in Berlese samples of epiphytic material.
Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 1999. Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33:1639-1689.
Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini, with a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malagasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65:1-1028.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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