Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: 17km S. Puerto Viejo (Rara Avis), 600m (J. Longino 2267-s). INBIOCRI001280404. Image by J. Longino.

Identification

Apical fork of mandible with a single intercalary tooth; mandible with a strong preapical tooth, followed by one or more teeth and/or denticles that are variable in size and position; propodeal lamellae with strong dorsal and ventral teeth; gaster finely sericeous opaque, longitudinally striolate; gaster covered with brush of abundant long flagelliform setae.

Head length 0.78-0.83mm, mandible length 0.52-0.56, CI 78-82, MI 66-69 (n=12 workers from 6 localities; Brown 1962).

Range

Costa Rica, Trinidad, northeastern Brazil, Ecuador, Amazonian Bolivia. Costa Rica: mid-elevation Atlantic slope.

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..."

trinidadensis occurs in wet forest habitat in Costa Rica. It is known from arboreal foragers on low vegetation.

Specimen: Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia: 17km S. Puerto Viejo (Rara Avis), 600m (J. Longino 2267-s). INBIOCRI001280404. Image by J. Longino.