Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: major worker, lateral view of head (reduced, original), anterior view clypeus, showing head truncation (reduced, original).
Range
Costa Rica: Osa Peninsula.
Identification
Minor worker: propodeum very narrow, in cross section tectiform (tent-like, like an inverted "V"), without a distinct angle separating lateral and dorsal faces; mesosoma evenly arched in lateral view; side of head with erect setae; scape with long subdecumbent pubescence but no differentiated long erect setae; mesosoma concolorous red brown.
Major worker: head strikingly phragmotic, truncation circular in anterior view, with antennal insertions and bases of scapes included in truncation.
Natural History
I know this strikingly phragmotic species only from the lowland rainforest around Sirena in Corcovado National Park. On two occasions I collected nocturnal foragers, and I found one nest. It was in a small rotten stick in the leaf litter. I captured 26 minor workers, 9 major workers, 2 alate queens, 9 males, and some brood, which appeared to be about one half of the nest occupants (the rest escaped). One of the larger larvae was deformed and had what looked like a small white tadpole attached to the side just below the head, perhaps an ectoparasitic hymenopteran.
Type Data
Notes
Literature Cited
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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