Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Panama (type locality), Costa Rica. Costa Rica: widespread, to about 1000m elevation.
Identification
Size small; color yellow; mesosoma elongate, with well-impressed metanotal groove; postpetiole lacking anteroventral process.
Natural History
This species inhabits both wet and dry forest habitats. It is abundant in dry Pacific slope habitats, including forests, scrubby vegetation, and city parks. It is also abundant in the canopy of Atlantic slope wet forest, to about 1000m elevation. I have not collected it from the wet forests of the southern Pacific lowlands.
Solenopsis zeteki is arboreal. Nests can be found in almost any small arboreal cavity, including dead sticks, under epiphyte mats, and opportunistically in ant plants such as Cecropia and domatium-producing Melastomataceae. I have found both monogynous and polygynous colonies.
Comments
I have found occasional variants of zeteki in which workers are dark brown instead of yellow. All other characters appear to be the same. For example, Mary Cornelius, an OTS student, sampled multiple colonies from domatia of understory Tococa (Melostomataceae) at Tortuguero. Two colonies had yellow workers and one colony had brown workers, yet all other characters appeared to be identical.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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