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The genus Solenopsis is a large and important group in Costa Rica, but they usually get sorted last because (1) they have a relatively uniform morphology and generally seem featureless, (2) there are many species but no keys or other synthetic work, and (3) most of them are too small to see.
Solenopsis can roughly be divided into three categories: fire ants, thief ants, and other low-density oddballs. Fire ants are the largest and most conspicuous members of the genus. There are many species of fire ants distributed over the Americas (Trager 1991), but the only Costa Rican member of the group is S. geminata. The thief ants are tiny ants that seem to occur everywhere. Leaf litter is full of them, they occur in soil and under stones, and they are abundant under epiphyte mats. There are many species and trying to separate them is tedious. There are some distinctive thief ants that can be quickly recognized with some unique sculpture and shape characters, but the most common ones seem to blur into a confusing continuum of characters. Thief ants get their name from the supposition that they are mainly predators of other ants, sneaking into their nests and preying on brood. But actually next to nothing is known of the biology of most of them. Myrmecologists sometimes refer to thief ants as "diplos," from an old subgenus name Diplorhoptrum, but everyone agrees that the name has little taxonomic meaning and it is not used as a formal taxon. Finally, there are some distinctive oddballs, intermediate in size between thief ants and fire ants, that are never very common.
I have done no serious taxonomic work on Costa Rican Solenopsis. All I have done is establish a set of morphospecies to allow superficial sorting.
The following are available names with type localities in Costa Rica:
Solenopsis hayemi Forel 1908:45
Solenopsis geminata var. nigra Forel 1908:45 (jr. synonym of geminata)
Solenopsis picea Emery 1896:89
Solenopsis picquarti Forel 1899:80
Solenopsis picea subsp. reducta Menozzi 1927:276
Solenopsis succinea Emery 1890:52
Solenopsis terricola Menozzi 1931:267
Literature Cited
Trager, J. C. 1991. A revision of the fire ants, Solenopsis geminata group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 99:141-198.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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