Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
Identification
The genera Tapinoma and Technomyrmex both have the petiolar node reduced or absent. Tapinoma has four dorsal tergites on the metasoma posterior to the petiole; Technomyrmex has five (Shattuck 1992). Technomyrmex fulvus is the only species of Technomyrmex known from Costa Rica. Technomyrmex albipes is a widespread tropical tramp species that could occur in Costa Rica, but has not been reported yet. Technomyrmex albipes is dark brown; T. fulvus is orange.
Range
Panama, Costa Rica. In Costa Rica it is known from one collection from Tortuguero National Park.
Natural History
Wheeler (1934) described fulvus and a subspecies sublucidus from three collections from Barro Colorado Island, Panama. They were all from "flat carton sheds with coccids on the bark of living trees." Longino made an additional collection in Tortuguero National Park (Costa Rica, Prov. Limon, Tortuguero National Park, 10degrees35'N 83degrees31'W, 5m, 20 June 1988, colln. no. 2115). The site was mature rainforest, up the Rio Tortuguero a short way from the town of Tortuguero, on the right bank going upriver. A carton nest was under a live leaf of Cardulovica (Cyclanthacaceae), at the base of the blade and sheathing the upper portion of the petiole.
Wheeler (1934) put fulvus and sublucidus in the genus Tapinoma, but Shattuck (1992) recognized them as Technomyrmex and transferred them there. Shattuck observed that T. fulvus presented a biogeographical puzzle. The genus Technomyrmex is largely Old World, with many species in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. Only two species are known from outside this region: the widespread tramp species T. albipes and the apparently native Neotropical species T. fulvus. Shattuck proposed that T. fulvus was native, and not a recent introduction, because of its wet forest habitat, and its distinctness from any known Old World species. The new Costa Rican record provides further evidence that T. fulvus is native to the New World.
Technomyrmex fulvus appears to be remarkably rare. It's rareness in collections cannot be attributed to being cryptic; it builds conspicuous carton nests in the low arboreal zone. Barro Colorado Island and portions of Costa Rica's Atlantic lowlands have received a great deal of attention from collectors and ecologists studying ants, and yet no additional records of this species surfaced between 1934 and now. It remains to be seen whether T. fulvus occurs as small disjunct populations, or is more uniformly distributed but at very low densities.
Literature Cited
Shattuck, S. O. 1992. Generic revision of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 21:1-181.
Wheeler, W. M. 1934. Neotropical ants collected by Dr. Elisabeth Skwarra and others. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 77:157-240.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
Go back to top