Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: dorsal view of worker (original, reduced).
Range
Guatemala to Venezuela. Costa Rica: Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.
Identification
Minor worker: Propodeum lacking spines or tubercles of any kind; propodeum somewhat box-like, dorsal and lateral faces flat or nearly flat and meeting at an approximate right angle; dorsal face of propodeum subrectangular; first gastral tergite with dense yellowish to silvery appressed pubescence (not as strikingly golden as textor); erect setae on mesosoma and head silvery or whitish; erect setae on first gastral tergite relatively short; uniformly dark brown to dark red brown; side of mesosoma densely punctate, not shining (nests in dead wood).
Natural History
This species is most common in lowland wet forests, although I have one record from Curu, a dry forest site on the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The species also occurs in mangrove habitats. The workers are commmon diurnal foragers on vegetation, often visiting extrafloral nectaries, and the species is common in canopy fogging samples from La Selva Biological Station.
I have two nest observations. One nest was in a dead stick in a recent treefall at La Selva. Another was in Corcovado National Park, in the canopy of a tall Licania (Chrysobalanaceae) tree. A founding queen, two workers, and brood were in a rotten stick.
Type Data
Notes
Literature Cited
Forel, A. 1899. Biologia Centrali-Americana; or, contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America. Insecta. Hymenoptera. 3 (Formicidae). London. 169 pp.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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