Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
Range
Costa Rica: Atlantic slope, from 50 to 1100m in Cordillera Volcanica Central.
Identification
Mesosomal dorsum setose; no carina between mandible and eye; orifice of propodeal spiracle circular, not slit-shaped (note that other species may have a circular boss around the spiracular orifice, but orifice itself is slit-shaped); clypeus truncate anteriorly; color orange brown; ventral margin of petiole with flat, horizontal flange projecting posteriorly to near posterior margin of petiole; petiole in lateral view tapering dorsally; mandibles striate, basal sulcus faint to absent; sides of head and hind tibia often with sparse short erect setae; head width about 0.9mm; scape index (scape length/head width) about 0.7.
Similar species: panamensis, JTL-014, JTL-015, JTL-017, JTL-018.
Natural History
This is a poorly known species that inhabits forest floor leaf litter in rainforest. Conservation International's TEAM project has collected 3 workers from La Selva Biological Station and the adjacent portion of the Barva transect, from Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor. Alate queens have twice been collected at lights at La Selva. Danilo Brenes collected a worker in a sweepnet sample from the 1070m site on the Barva Transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park. E. Rojas, an INBio Parataxonomist, collected an alate queen from a lowland forest site in southern Limon province.
Comments
See additional observations on ferruginea complex under panamensis.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu