Ecitoninae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica (type locality) to Ecuador, Guianas, Brazil (AC). Costa Rica: Atlantic slope and southern Pacific slope.
Identification
Mesonotum distinctly humped; antennal scape surpasses posterior margin of head.
Natural History
I have collected this species five times, always as nocturnal columns on the ground surface in wet forest habitats. The four Costa Rican collections are from sea level to 500m elevation; a Venezuelan collection was from 1100m. In one of the Costa Rican raiding columns there was ant prey: Tapinoma, Pheidole, and Strumigenys smithii.
On the Barva transect in Costa Rica I saw a column that emerged from dense vegetation onto a trail, moved about 5m along the trail and across a log, and disappeared into dense vegetation on the other side. It was a dense swath of ants, perhaps 5-10cm wide, moving rapidly. I watched the continuously flowing column for several minutes, and it was obvious that the colony was very large. At times the trail seemed to scintillate, and when I looked closely I discovered that I was seeing the sparkle of light reflecting from the wings of hundreds of wasps in the Diapriidae. Lubomir Masner later identified these as a species of Acanthopria. Hundreds at a time were within my field of vision, running with the workers.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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