Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Identification (the genus has been revised by Andrade 1998)
Worker, queen: mandibles largely smooth, masticatory margin with blunt, conspicuous teeth; clypeus anteriorly bilobed; frontal carinae projecting anteriorly and separated medially, so that in full-face view they just overlap lobes of clypeus; head relatively long and thin, eyes situated at midlength on sides of head; metatarsus (basal tarsal segment) of middle leg short and broad, slightly longer than following tarsomere, with 3 peg-like setae on outer distal margin; AT2-5 striate, striae becoming finer on 4-5, fading on 5.
Male: frontal carinae strongly converging and almost touching posteriorly, broadly separated anteriorly; AT2 entirely striate; AT3 superficially striate.
Range
Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Brazil (AM).
Natural History
The ants of this genus are rarely collected, and very little is known about them. Cylindromyrmex species nest in cavities in sound or rotten wood, under bark, in hollow stems, or in termite galleries (Brown 1975).
Costa Rican Specimen Records
Guanacaste: Cerro El Hacha, Guanacaste Conservation Area, 10ˇ59'N, 85ˇ33'W, 300m, 1988 (coll. unknown), alate queen; Santa Rosa National Park, 0-300m, May-Aug 1984 (coll. D. H. Janzen and I. Guald), adult queen; Heredia: La Selva Biological Station, 10ˇ26'N, 84ˇ01'W, 50m (coll. ALAS), alate queen; Limon: Hamburg Farm, 10ˇ15'N, 83ˇ27'W, 50m, 23 Apr 1926 (coll. F. Nevermann), nest series with queens, males, workers; Puntarenas: Golfo Dulce, 3km SW Rincon, 8ˇ42'N, 83ˇ29'W, 10m, Feb-Mar 1989 (coll. P. Hanson), alate queen; Rancho Quemado, Osa Peninsula, 8ˇ42'N, 83ˇ33'W, 200m, Jan 1991 (coll. P. Hanson), adult male; 24km W Piedras Blancas, Golfo Dulce, 200m, Dec 1989-Mar 1990 (coll. P. Hanson), adult male; San Jose: La Caja, 8km W San Jose, 9ˇ58'N, 84ˇ07'W, 1100m (coll. H. Schmidt), adult queen.
Type data
Cylindromyrmex meinerti Forel 1905:155. Syntype worker: Venezuela, Las Trincheras (Meinert) [MHNG, MCZC, MCSN].
Comments
Andrade (2001) confirmed many of the above identifications.
Literature Cited
Andrade, M. L. de 1998. Fossil and extant species of Cylindromyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revue Suisse de Zoologie 105:581-664.
Andrade, M. L. de 2001. A remarkable Dominican amber species of Cylindromyrmex with Brazilian affinities and additions to the generic revision (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). BeitrŠge zur Entomologie 51:51-63.
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1975. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. V. Ponerinae, tribes Platythyreini, Cerapachyini, Cylindromyrmecini, Acanthostichini, and Aenictogitini. Search Agri., Entomol. (Ithaca) 5:1-115.
Forel, A. 1905. Miscellanea myrmecologiques II (1905). Annls Soc. Entomol. Belg. 49:155-185.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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