Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Honduras (type locality), Belize, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil (Manaus) (Kempf 1975, Longino 1988). Costa Rica: lowland wet forest on both Atlantic and Pacific slopes.
Identification
Mandible with three long tines only, no small basal tooth; head width 0.7-0.9mm. See notes.
Natural History
This species occurs in wet forest leaf litter, and is most often obtained in sifted litter samples. A Brazilian species, Thaumatomyrmex mutilatus, is a specialist predator of polyxenid millipedes (Brandao et al. 1991), and thus ferox may be as well.
Type Data
Thaumatomyrmex ferox Mann 1922:3. Syntype worker: Honduras, San Juan Pueblo.
Literature Cited
Brandao, C. R. F., J. L. M. Diniz, and E. M. Tomotake. 1991. Thaumatomyrmex strips millipedes for prey, a novel predatory behaviour in ants and the first case of sympatry in the genus. Insectes Soc. 38:335-344.
Kempf, W. W. 1975. A revision of the Neotropical ponerine ant genus Thaumatomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Stud. Entomol. 18:95-126.
Longino, J. T. 1988. Notes on the taxonomy of the neotropical ant genus Thaumatomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In J. C. Trager (ed.), Advances in Myrmecology, pp. 35-42. E. J. Brill, New York.
Mann, W. M. 1922. Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus. 61:1-54.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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