Dacetini, Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica (known from one specimen from agricultural area near Guapiles).
Identification
Apical fork of mandible with one intercalary tooth; right mandible with one acute preapical tooth near apical fork, left mandible without preapical tooth; propodeal spines long, well developed; first gastral tergum mat, finely and densely striatopunctate on anterior third, remainder finely and densely punctate; first gastral tergum with abundant long, stiff, clavate setae, separated by a distance subequal to their length. See also Bolton (2000:527).
HL 0.78mm, ML 0.53, CI 85, MI 67 (n=1).
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..."
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a kinetic mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
I know this species from one specimen (the holotype), a worker collected by Bob Matlock, in an intercept trap in an agricultural area near Guapiles.
Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 1999. Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33:1639-1689.
Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini, with a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malagasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65:1-1028.
Brown, W. L., Jr., Wilson, E. O. 1959. The evolution of the dacetine ants. Quart. Rev. Biol. 34:278-294.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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