Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
Additional images: worker mandible (small, large).
Range
Costa Rica: Cordillera Volcanica Central (Braulio Carrillo National Park, 300m) and Cordillera de Tilar‡n (Arenal).
Identification
Mandibles in full-face view linear, elongate and narrow; ventral surface of petiole without spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape with freely projecting hairs; inner margin of mandible without a tooth or distinctly enlarged denticle at or near the midlength; labral lobes short, trigger hairs at apices of lobes long; outer margins of mandibles relatively straight; mandibles short and thick, with inner margin convex; mandible with 3 small preapical teeth and no denticles; ground pilosity of head abundant and conspicuous; erect setae on gaster remiform; only a portion of katepisternum smooth and shining, side of propodeum punctate.
Similar species: JTL-005.
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999, 2000).
This species is known from the 300m site on the Barva transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park and from Arenal National Park. Workers have been collected in Berlese samples of epiphytic material, in a flight intercept trap, and in a sweep sample.
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.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu