Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: queen, face view (small, large)
Range
Costa Rica: Monteverde, Pe–as Blancas, Maritza, Heredia coffee farms, La Selva Biological Station, Hitoy Cerere, Corcovado, Wilson Botanical Garden, San JosŽ, Carrillo in Braulio Carrillo National Park.
Identification
Face faintly areolate, with abundant short subdecumbent pubescence; scapes surpass vertex margin by one-half to one length of first funicular segment; pronotum with erect setae, no erect setae on mesosoma or propodeum; first gastral tergite with sparse appressed pubescence, a few erect setae; metanotal groove weakly impressed; color yellow.
Natural History
This species occurs in wet and moist forest habitats on both slopes. On the Atlantic slope it occurs in the lowlands and as high as 800m in the Pe–as Blancas Valley. It does not occur in the Monteverde cloud forest but appears again in the moist forest habitats on the Pacific slope just below Monteverde. It occurs in lowland and montane rainforest, and also in urban and agricultural areas in the Central Valley. For example, I have collected workers in a small patio area of a San JosŽ hotel.
The species appears to nest and forage near ground level. The nests I have observed have been under stones, and one was in the base of a live fern. At La Selva Biological Station, workers have been collected in Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter and in Malaise traps, but in only one of 51 Project ALAS fogging samples. Workers may be collected at baits on the ground or as foragers on low vegetation.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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