Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Image catalogue, paratype worker (click here).
Image catalogue, worker, sem (click here).
Range
Brazil (SP, RJ, PI). Range Map.
Diagnosis
Frontal carina grossly truncate, forming a flat, perpendicular surface posterior to torulus, leaving torulus completely exposed, abruptly tapering to carina on anterior base of torulus, closely appressed to and paralleling prominent lateral clypeal carina; AT4 longitudinally striate.
Procryptocerus seabrai is the only other species with a completely exposed torulus. The two species appear completely unrelated, and the form of the truncation is quite different between the two. seabrai has a punctate gaster; victoris a striate gaster.
Additional Description
Eye shallowly and smoothly convex; vertex margin distinct, weaker medially; HW = 1.36-1.39mm (n=3); mesonotal teeth and anterolateral propodeal lobes weakly to moderately developed; propodeal suture impressed but not breaking sculpture when striae longitudinal; posterior face of forefemur variably striate (strength of striation varies greatly within type series); AT4 uniformly longitudinally striate, striae continuing onto AT5; ASW = 0.019-0.021mm (n=3); face, mesosoma, and gaster with abundant, stiff and slightly flattened, erect to suberect setae; body generally black, variably with contrasting red orange on tibiae.
See Kempf 1960 for full description.
Variation
Type locality and vicinity: face with vermiculate striae, longitudinal anteriorly, arching or sloping toward median posteriorly; vertex largely smooth, medially with a few transverse rugulae near occipital carina, laterally with weak striae sloping obliquely outward from occipital carina; mesosomal dorsum longitudinally striate, striae variably vermiculate on promesonotum. This form is known from two collections: (1) the type locality, Alto da Serra, a montane forest site southeast of Sao Paulo, and (2) Sao Bernardo do Campo, a similarly forested site in the vicinity of the type locality.
Other localities in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro states: Face with strong, weakly vermiculate striae in a concentrically whorled pattern, longitudinal anteromedially, arching toward median laterally, becoming transverse on the posterior one fourth to one third of face; striae thick, rounded on top, with conspicuous granular microsculpture; vertex coarsely striate throughout, grading from longitudinal to entirely transverse, with granular microsculpture similar to face; mesosomal dorsum with striae similar to those on face, highly variable in orientation, with at least some portion of mesonotum and propodeal dorsum transversely striate. This form is known from 4 collections: (1) evergreen forest of the Cantareira Range, immediately northwest of Sao Paulo; (2) Est. Biol. Boraceia, a montane forest site near the headwaters of the Rio Tiete; (3) Caraguatatuba, a sea-level site east of Sao Paulo, and (4) a montane forest site near Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro State. Figures: face view (reduced, original); mesosoma, dorsal view (reduced, original); vertex (original).
Piani State: Face with strong, weakly vermiculate striae in a concentrically whorled pattern, longitudinal anteromedially, arching toward median laterally, becoming transverse on the posterior one fourth to one third of face; striae thick, rounded on top, with conspicuous granular microsculpture; vertex weakly longitudinally striate, with smooth and shiny intervals; mesosomal dorsum with striae similar to those on face, parallel, sublongitudinal, somewhat slanted obliquely across mesosoma, but nowhere transverse. This form is known from a single specimen from Piani State, Teresina, Sta. Teresa. Figures: face view (reduced, original); mesosoma, dorsal view (reduced, original); vertex (original).
The two forms in Sao Paulo State are strikingly different, and would certainly be considered distinct species if they occurred together in the same forest. However, given their allopatry and the shared feature of the truncate frontal carinae, I prefer to treat them as geographical variants of a single lineage. The specimen from Piani State is a striking disjunct, differing in sculptural details from the other two, but sharing the truncate frontal carinae.
The types were collected from a colony in a hollow dead twig (Kempf 1960).
Types and Synonymy
Procryptocerus victoris Kempf 1960:437. Holotype and paratype workers: state of Sao Paulo, old Sao Paulo - Santos highway, near the summit of Serra do Mar, 15 Aug 1958 (Kempf & Santos) [MZSP, paratypes examined August 1998].
Material Examined
BRAZIL: Piaui: Teresina, Santa Teresa [5¡5'S 42¡49'W] 15 Dec 1980 (A. I. Almeida) LACM ENT 140451 [MZSP]; Rio de Janeiro: Petropolis, Tr. de Fatima [22¡31'S 43¡10'W] [800m elevation, Brandao pers. com.] 20-30 Oct 1982 (Brandao and Diniz) LACM ENT 140450 [MZSP]; Sao Paulo: Alto da Serra [23¡47'S 46¡19'W] [1000m, Brandao pers. com.] 15 Aug 1958 (W. W. Kempf and Santos) LACM ENT 140473 [victoris paratypes; MZSP, USNM]; Sao Bernardo do Campo [23¡42'S 46¡33'W] 1 Jun 1971 (W. L. and D. E. Brown) LACM ENT 140470, LACM ENT 140471, LACM ENT 140472 [MCZC, LACM]; Cantareira [23¡28'S 46¡38'W] 20 Aug 1958 (K. Lenko) LACM ENT 140467 [MZSP]; Res. Flor. Caraguatatuba [23¡37'S 45¡25'W] 680m, 2 Apr 1962 (K. Lenko) LACM ENT 140448, LACM ENT 140449 [MZSP]; Est. Biol. Boraceia, Salesopolis [23¡32'S 45¡51'W] 850m, 13 Sep 1960 (K. Lenko) LACM ENT 140446 [MZSP], LACM ENT 140447 [MZSP].
Literature Cited
Kempf, W. W. 1960. Miscellaneous studies on Neotropical ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Studia Entomologica (n.s.) 3:417-466.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
Date of this version: 10 August 1998.
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