Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Minor worker lateral view and face view are two different workers on same pin. Face view is smaller worker.
Additional images: Queen, face view (reduced, original); lateral view of clypeus (reduced, original).
Range
Costa Rica: northwestern lowlands.
Identification
Minor worker: propodeum very narrow and elongate, in cross section tectiform (tent-like, like an inverted "V"), without a distinct angle separating lateral and dorsal faces; clypeus with median longitudinal keel; mesosoma very elongate and narrow in lateral view; abundant erect setae on sides of head, mesosomal dorsum, and gaster; scapes with no erect setae; head and mesosoma red brown, gaster sublucid, black with yellow spots.
Natural History
I know this species from only two collections. I collected a dealate queen beneath a stone in an oak forest area in Santa Rosa National Park. I collected workers from beneath a stone in a patch of dry forest on the Pacific slope below Monteverde (Chepe Rojas farm). When I lifted the stone the workers quickly disappeared down holes in the ground, and I was able to capture only a few. At this point I am tentatively associating the queen and the workers due to similarities in size, pilosity, coloration, and nesting habit.
Notes
I first encountered this species as a queen under a stone at Santa Rosa. It looked very like queens of JTL-001. The latter species was extremely common at Santa Rosa, and I had collected queens before, all from dead branches or other plant cavities. The odd nesting site of the queen made me look at her again, and I noticed that the clypeus was much more setose than on other queens. Years later I found some Camponotus workers beneath a stone in a site on the dry Pacific slope below Monteverde. These workers and the queen looked like they could belong together, based both on morphology and their common nesting habits, so I tentatively identified them as the same species. Some concerted stone flipping at Santa Rosa would probably reveal more workers of the species.
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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