Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
|
|
|
Range
Costa Rica, Panama. Costa Rica: rainforest habitats of mid-elevation Atlantic slope, and Osa Peninsula.
Identification
Minor worker: scapes with suberect pubescence, 2-4 short erect setae spread along shaft; lateral margins of head with abundant projecting setae; mesosoma evenly arched; propodeum, meso and metathorax highly fused, sutures almost completely effaced, forming a single unit that articulates with the prothorax; dorsal profile of meso- meta- propodeal complex evenly convex, propodeum lacking differentiated dorsal and posterior faces; propodeum strongly laterally compressed, tectiform; sides of meso- meta- propodeal complex sublucid; first gastral tergite with abundant yellow appressed pubescence and abundant erect setae, appressed pubescence very long and thin; integument color generally dark red brown, with contrasting lighter red legs.
Like a woolier, shinier fastigatus, without the lighter-colored pronotum, and without the yellow bands on the gaster (or these very weakly developed and inconspicuous).
Major worker: head subquadrate; clypeus with pronounced median keel, in lateral view subtruncate, with posterior portion somewhat projecting; face granular/punctate, opaque, coarse anteriorly, becoming finer posteriorly, to nearly smooth on posterior margins of head; anterior face and lateral margins of head with dense stubble of short stiff setae.
Similar to fastigatus but more robust, shinier, woolier, and color differences of minor worker.
Similar species: fastigatus.
Natural History
This species inhabits rainforest habitats. I have observed diurnal foragers on low vegetation, and I have seen three nests. All three have been from live stems of understory or forest edge plants. One nest was in two internodes of a 3m tall Cecropia sapling. The nest contained workers, soldiers, and brood, but no queen, which suggests the species may be polydomous. Another nest was in internodes of a Cecropia insignis sapling. A third nest was in the main stem of an understory tree sapling. The sapling was leaning across a rainforest trail, and we cut it with a machete to pass by. The stem was 3-4cm in diameter, and ant workers poured out when we made the cut. Further dissection revealed a nest in a clean but irregular chamber, more than a meter long, in the first two meters of the sapling trunk. Gary Hartshorn tentatively identified the sapling as Talisia in the Sapindaceae.
Type Data
Notes
Literature Cited
Forel, A. 1899. Biologia Centrali-Americana; or, contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. Insecta. Hymenoptera. 3 (Formicidae). London. 169 pp.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
Go back to top