Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
Additional images: worker scape (small, large).
Range
Costa Rica: Cordillera de Tilar‡n, upper Pe–as Blancas Valley.
Identification
Scape with macrochaetae inconspicuous, little longer than abundant suberect pubescence; first gastral tergite lacking appressed pubescence; color bicolored, with orange head and mesosoma, dark brown gaster; face shagreened.
Natural History
This species occurs in wet forest habitat. I know it from three Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter, from Refugio Eladio and vicinity, 800-1000m elevation, in the Pe–as Blancas Valley.
Comments
These collections are curiously similar to P. austroccidua. They have the shagreened face, but the coloration is different and there is no blue reflection. Could this be a local "microspecies" parapatric with the abundant austoccidua just up the hill? Are they the result of hybridization at the edge of the range of austroccidua?
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
Go back to top
