Leptanilloidinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Note that the figured specimen is missing two terminal antennal segments on one side and four on the other, the condition in which the specimen was collected.
Additional images: worker, dorsal view (click here).
Range
Costa Rica (Atlantic lowlands).
Identification
This is the first known species of Asphinctanilloides and the second known member of the Leptanilloidinae from Costa Rica. It differs from Leptanilloides mckennae in the smaller size, yellow coloration, lack of constrictions between gastral segments, flatter mesosomal dorsum, and differently shaped petiole and postpetiole.
Natural History
The single known worker of this species was collected in lowland rainforest, in Braulio Carrillo National Park between La Selva Biological Station and Magsasay. It was collected as part of the TEAM project, in a Winkler sample.
Comments
Karol Mora, TEAM project technician, discovered this ant. Among the thousands of ants in hundreds of species that she was processing and identifying, she isolated this single diminutive worker as something she had not seen before. Sadly, the Conservation International ant sampling has come to an end, so Karol won't be able to continue making discoveries like this one.
I place this species in Asphinctanilloides because of the lack of constrictions in the gaster, even though it has a mesosomal structure more like Leptanilloides. The differences in the two genera outlined by Brandao et al. (1999) have blurred with the discovery of new taxa (Longino 2003, Donoso et al. 2006). This worker, presumably a new species, shares characters with the South American Asphinctanilloides species but does not precisely match any of them. Among other things, the clypeus is more concave, and the mandibles are thinner with an offset basal tooth.
This is the first record of an Asphinctanilloides-like leptanilloidine north of Manaus. Given its habitus, it is certainly a subterranean ant that is probably more abundant than we realize. Tiny subterranean ants are difficult to sample and are underrepresented in collections.
See further discussion of the subfamily under Leptanilloides.
Literature Cited
Brandao, C. R. F., Diniz, J. L. M., Agosti, D. and Delabie, J. H. 1999. Revision of the Neotropical ant subfamily Leptanilloidinae. Systematic Entomology 24:17-36.
Donoso, D. A., J. M. Viera, and A. L. Wild. 2006. Three new species of Leptanilloides Mann from Andean Ecuador (Formicidae: Leptanilloidinae). Zootaxa 1201:47Ð62.
Longino, J. T. 2003. A new Costa Rican species of Leptanilloides (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: doryline section: Leptanilloidinae). Zootaxa 264:1-6.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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