Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Images available: Worker: face view (original jpeg) (reduced jpeg); mesosoma, lateral view (original jpeg) (reduced jpeg). petiole, lateral view (original jpeg). Queen: face view (original jpeg) (reduced jpeg); head, lateral view (original jpeg) (reduced jpeg); petiole (original jpeg) (original line drawing) (reduced line drawing).
Identification
Nests in live stems.
Queen: head subrectangular, head length greater than or equal to 1.3 times head width; head width 1.09-1.11mm (n=2); color black; mandible with even covering of coarse, piligerous puncta; mandible surface appearing bristly; petiolar node sharp; ventral lobe shallow; scape relatively long.
Worker: promesonotum with abundant pilosity; head width of largest workers up to 1.15mm (n=2); propodeum lacking setae or with at most one or two short erect setae; mandibles bristly; scapes relatively long; mesosomal pilosity relatively short.
This is a member of the Azteca nigricans complex, the queens of which have the mandibles with an even cover of large piligerous puncta, so that the mandibles are bristly. Azteca nigricans s.s. is known only from the type queen from Panama, JTL-001 occurs in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica, and JTL-002 occurs in the Atlantic lowlands. The three "species" differ in queen head size and relative scape length. However, samples are available from few localities, and knowledge of geographic variation in these characters is inadequate to confidently establish species boundaries.
Range
Costa Rica (Atlantic lowlands).
Natural History
This species is known from numerous recent collections from La Selva Biological Station, and one old (1926) collection from Parismina, on the Atlantic coast. Like JTL-001, it appears to be a generalist, nesting in live stems of a variety of plant species. At La Selva, workers were encountered in two of 18 canopy fogging samples, from crowns of Carapa guianensis (Meliaceae) and Tapirira guianensis (Anacardiaceae). Nests have also been sampled from scattered small chambers in live stems of Dendropanax arboreus (Araliaceae), Pentaclethra macroloba (Leguminosae), Inga sp. (Leguminosae), Erythrina peoppigiana (an introduced species, Leguminosae), and Phoebe chavarriana (Lauraceae). Wetterer collected a founding queen in an internode of a Cecropia insignis sapling. Although inconspicuous, Azteca JTL-002 is one of the most common Azteca species in the canopy at La Selva.
Literature Cited
Longino, J. T. 1996. Taxonomic characterization of some live-stem inhabiting Azteca (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Costa Rica, with special reference to the ants of Cordia (Boraginaceae) and Triplaris (Polygonaceae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 5:131-156.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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