Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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SEM images of Monteverde worker: lateral view (reduced, original), face view (reduced, original), clypeus (reduced, original), lateral view of head (reduced, original), lateral view of gaster and petiole (original), mid-tibia (reduced, original).
Range
Mexico, Costa Rica (type locality), Panama. Costa Rica: montane regions throughout the country and northern Pacific lowlands.
Identification
Petiolar node "bun-shaped," broad at the base, with anterior and posterior faces converging to a rounded summit; mid-tibia lacking a pectinate apical spur; mesosoma relatively more convex in profile and integument sculpture relatively impressed compared to micrommatum and panamense.
Similar species: micrommatum, panamense.
Natural History
The genus Proceratium comprises mostly rare and cryptic ants of leaf litter and soil, distributed throughout the world in both tropical and temperate zones (Baroni Urbani and de Andrade 2003). Some species of the genus are known to be specialized predators of spider eggs (Brown 1980).
This species is known from both cloud forest and lowland tropical dry forest. It is most often encountered in Winkler or Berlese samples of forest floor leaf litter and dead wood.
Type data
Proceratium convexiceps Borgmeier 1957:120, figs. 34 and 35. Holotype worker: Costa Rica, San Josˇ (H. Schmidt) [MCZC].
Comments
This is a member of the micrommatum group and is very similar to micrommatum and panamense (Baroni Urbani and de Andrade 2003). It was synonymized under micrommatum by Brown (1980) and resurrected by Baroni Urbani and de Andrade.
Literature Cited
Baroni Urbani, C., and M. L. de Andrade. 2003. The ant genus Proceratium in the extant and fossil record (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali-Torino, Torino, Italy.
Borgmeier, T. 1957. Myrmecologische Studien, I. Ann. Acad. Brasil. Cienc. 29:103-128.
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1980 ("1979"). A remarkable new species of Proceratium, with dietary and other notes on the genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 86:337-346.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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