Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica: Monteverde, Pe–as Blancas, Cerro Cacao, Barva transect at 1100m, Wilson Botanical Garden.
Identification
Face smooth, with abundant appressed pubescence; scapes surpass vertex margin by one-half to one length of first funicular segment; mesosoma with no erect setae; first gastral tergite with abundant appressed pubescence, no erect setae; metanotal groove weakly impressed; color light brown to dirty yellow; differs from JTL-010 in longer scapes, larger mesonotum, larger overall size.
Natural History
This is a montane species that occurs in mid-elevation wet forest sites throughout the country. In the Monteverde area I have often collected nests under epiphyte mats. These are often mats on dead branches or on treefalls that have been down for a while and are beginning to decompose. I have also collected nests from small chambers under loose bark of soft rotting stems. I often find abundant alate queens and males in nests. In Monteverde, workers have been collected both in canopy fogging samples and in Winkler samples of sifted litter from the forest floor. Workers were common in Malaise trap samples from the Project ALAS 1070m site on the Barva transect, but none were collected from the 2000m or 500m sites, suggesting a narrow elevational preference. Mike Kaspari collected it at Wilson Botanical Garden during his studies of ant communities.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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