Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Identification
Minor worker: head length 0.82mm, head width 0.67mm, scape length 1.02mm, Webers length 1.06mm (n=1). Head subtrapezoidal behind eyes, with narrow vertex collar; promesonotal and metanotal grooves well impressed; propodeal spines long; face foveolate with longitudinal rugae between eyes and frontal carinae, faint punctation on posteriormost vertex, smooth and shiny elsewhere; pronotum foveolate on anterior flange and humeral processes, smooth and shiny elsewhere; mesonotum and propodeum foveolate dorsally and on sides; gaster feebly foveolate anteriorly, fading to smooth and shiny posteriorly; pilosity long, flexuous, relatively sparse, not projecting from sides of head in face view, only one pair on mesosomal dorsum; color red brown.
Major worker: head length 1.22mm, head width 1.20mm, scape length 0.95mm (n=1). Face punctatorugose, fading to smooth and shiny on posterior third; hypostomal margin with pair of widely-spaced teeth, each tooth sharp and needle-like, located near small recessed tooth flanking mandible; head, mesosoma, and gaster with sparse, long, erect, flexuous setae, none projecting from sides of head in face view.
Range
Costa Rica: (Atlantic and Pacific slopes).
Natural History
This species occurs in wet forest habitats, either in the canopy of mature forest or in small trees of young second growth, where it nests opportunistically in cavities in live stems, and in the forks of small trees. It may use accreted soil as nest material.
Selected Records
La Selva: common in canopy fogging samples.
Turrialba: in a pasture with scattered Psidium (guava) trees; a nest was in a crevice at a fork in the trunk of a guava tree.
7km SW Santiago (SW of San Jose): roadside vegetation; a nest was in several internodes of a Cecropia sapling; the internodes were also full of chaff.
Penas Blancas Valley: in a forest clearing; a nest was in the fork of a Psidium (guava) tree; the nest was a mass of soil-like carton; a few epiphytes were sprouting from the nest.
Page authors:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
Stefan Cover, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA. scover@oeb.harvard.edu
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