Dacetini, Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: worker, dorsal view (small, large).
Range
Costa Rica: Atlantic lowlands.
Identification
With the characters of S. lanuginosa, but the fine longitudinal costulae on the first gastral tergite are restricted to the anterior 1/4th to 1/3rd, and the katepisternum and side of propodeum are smooth and shiny.
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).
Strumigenys JTL-013 is known from Winkler samples from lowland wet forest.
Comments
Bolton (1999) treated this form as part of the intraspecific variability of S. lanuginosa, but he discussed the fact that two forms appeared to coexist in Costa Rica. The form with complete costulae on the gaster and fully punctate mesosoma (matching the types of S. lanuginosa) are known from the Bahamas, Colombia, and Costa Rica. The shiny form is known from Costa Rica and Mexico. Bolton discussed the possibility that S. lanuginosa would be resolved into more than one species. The co-occurrence of both forms at La Selva Biological Station suggests they are separate species.
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. 1961. The Neotropical species of the ant genus Strumigenys Fr. Smith: Miscellaneous concluding studies. Psyche 68:58-69.
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.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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