Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: La Selva Biological Station (FPM/08/28). INBIOCRI001229706. Image by J. Longino.
Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: La Selva Biological Station (FPM/08/28). INBIOCRI001229706. Image by J. Longino.
This manuscript name is a conditional proposal by B. Bolton (sensu Article 15 of the 1985 ICZN), and thus not made available here. Its appearance here or in any duplication of this page does not constitute publication (sensu Article 8 of the 1985 ICZN).
Dacetini, Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
24 July 1997
Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: La Selva Biological Station (FPM/08/28). INBIOCRI001229706. Image by J. Longino.
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Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: La Selva Biological Station (FPM/08/28). INBIOCRI001229706. Image by J. Longino. |
Identification
Apical fork of mandible with two intercalary teeth; mandible with two pronounced preapical teeth; eye large, with over 35 facets; dorsal and ventral teeth of propodeal lamella pronounced, acute; gaster smooth with basal costulae; gaster covered with closely appressed, spatulate setae.
Head length 0.80-0.85mm, mandible length 0.44-0.47, CI 75, MI 55 (n=8 workers of the similar species S. tococae from 1 locality in Brazil; Brown 1962).
Similar species: fairchildi.
Range
Costa Rica (Atlantic and Pacific lowlands).
Natural History
Brown and Wilson (1959) summarize the genus as follows:
"Widespread in tropics and warm temperate areas. Primarily forest-dwelling; some species occur in grassland and arid scrub. ... Nests mostly in soil and rotting wood; a few species live in arboreal plant cavities in tropical rain forest. Foraging hypogaeic to epigaeic-arboreal. Food: most species are collembolan feeders; a few are polyphagous predators or occasionally feed on sugary substances..."
The species is arboreal.
Selected Records
La Selva: single worker from canopy fogging sample.
Carara: dense second growth vegetation at edge of tall wet forest. Lone queen in dead stick of treefall.
Literature Cited
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1962. The neotropical species of the ant genus Strumigenys Fr. Smith: Synopsis and keys to the species. Psyche 69:238-267.
Brown, W. L., Jr., Wilson, E. O. 1959. The evolution of the dacetine ants. Quarterly Review of Biology 34:278-294.
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