Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Southern Central America, South America east of Andes to southern Brazil; Elevations 50-1000m. Costa Rica: Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.
Identification
Very dense, flexuous, erect hairs on dorsa of head, mesosoma and gaster; no decumbent or appressed pilosity; promesonotum uniformly and densely areolate; shallow metanotal groove hardly interrupts mesosoma profile; WL 0.87-1.15mm.
Notes
Kugler (1994) reported this species nesting in trunks of cacao trees in Costa Rica, and in a small rotten log suspended about 50cm above the ground in Peru. Longino collected Costa Rican specimens from La Selva Biological Station, Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve, and Corcovado National Park (Sirena), all as foragers on rotten wood and low vegetation.
Longino observed a nest at La Selva. The nest was in a standing dead trunk in mature rainforest understory. The trunk was small, broken off at the top, with very soft rotten wood, and scattered aroids growing on it. The nest was in a rotten knot, about 3cm diameter. Nearly the entire nest was collected; the collection comprised 109 workers, 25 adult males, and abundant brood.
Worker: lateral view, SEM (reduced, original);
mesosomal dorsum, SEM (reduced, original).
Queen: lateral view (reduced, original);
face view (reduced, original).
Male: lateral view (reduced, original);
face view (reduced, original).
Literature Cited
Kugler, C. 1994. Revision of the ant genus Rogeria (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with descriptions of the sting apparatus. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 3:17-89.
Page authors:
Grant Ramsey, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
Charles Kugler, Radford University, Radford VA 24142 USA.
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