Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica. Costa Rica: known from Cordillera Volcanica Central, Talamancas.
Identification
This is the only species of the genus known from Costa Rica.
Natural History
Wilson (1955) described the dealate queen and gave details of the habits of B. deletrix in southern Mexico. It makes very small colonies (or colony fragments) of up to 16 workers and a dealate queen with scanty brood, usually or always in rotten wood fragments on the soil in leaf litter. The prey is apparently small, soft-bodied insects; Wilson thought campodeids were favored. Brown (pers. comm.) observed B. deletrix in Costa Rica and Honduras, and confirmed the habitat and small nest populations as seen by Wilson.
I have seen the following collections of B. deletrix from Costa Rica:
Heredia: 17km N Vol. Barba, 10¡17'N, 84¡5'W, 800m (J. Longino). ex sifted leaf litter in wet forest.
Heredia: La Selva Biological Station, 10¡26'N, 84¡1'W, 50m (M. Kaspari).
Puntarenas: Wilson Botanical Garden, 4km S San Vito, 8¡47'N, 82¡58'W, 1200m (L and A Alonso).
Puntarenas: Estacion Biol. Pittier, 9¡02'N, 82¡58'W, 1670m (J. Longino). ex sifted litter from wet forest.
Type data
Belonopelta (Belonopelta) deletrix Mann 1922:9. Type worker: Honduras: Choloma.
Literature Cited
Mann, W. M. 1922. Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proc. U.S. Natn. Mus. 61:1-54.
Wilson, E. O. 1955. Ecology and behavior of the ant Belonopelta deletrix Mann (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche 62:82-87.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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