Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica: Pacific slope below Monteverde, at 800m.
Identification
Face smooth, with abundant erect setae; scapes surpass vertex margin by about length of first funicular segment; metanotum deeply impressed, mesosoma hour-glass shaped; pronotum shiny, katepisternum and side of propodeum shagreened; mesosomal dorsum, including dorsal face of propodeum, with abundant erect setae; first gastral tergite with abundant erect setae, no appressed pubescence; scapes and legs with abundant long erect pubescence.
Natural History
I have collected this very distinctive species only three times, from two sites on the Pacific slope just below Monteverde. Both sites are about 800m elevation and are in the moist forest transition zone between cloud forest and lowland dry forest climate zones. Both areas were mosaics of forest patches, pastures, scrubby vegetation, and road edges. All three collections have been of workers on vegetation in open scrubby vegetation. In the field, these ants look and behave remarkably like Crematogaster.
Comments
This peculiar species has characters of both Brachymyrmex and Myrmelachista. The size and shape of the mesosoma is very like Myrmelachista zeledoni, a common species in the same areas where JTL-006 occurs, and the visual similarity to Crematogaster is shared with several montane Myrmelachista species. Yet the antennae are 9-segmented and there is no antennal club.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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