Formicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: major worker, lateral view of head (reduced, original).
Range
Costa Rica: Atlantic lowlands to 600m.
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 lacking erect setae.
Major worker: head in face view subrectangular; clypeus rectangular, not trapezoidal.
Similar species: JTL-043.
Natural History
This species inhabits mature rainforest habitats. I presume the workers are nocturnal foragers because I have not collected the species as foraging workers, and most of my collecting is during the day. The large size and relatively light color of workers is characteristic of nocturnal Camponotus. Nests are in cavities in dead or live stems.
At La Selva Biological Station the species has been collected in canopy fogging samples and in Malaise traps. Also I found a nest in the live stem of an unidentified plant. The stem was part of debris I generated while cutting down a Cecropia branch, and I do not know if the stem came from the canopy or was a sapling at ground level. The plant had simple alternate leaves and a 1-2cm diameter stem.
At a 500m elevation site in Braulio Carrillo National Park, above La Selva, I found a colony in the canopy of a Vochysia ferruginea tree. There were two nests in close proximity. One nest was in a 10cm long chamber in the base of a dead branch. The second nest was in a 40cm long chamber in a live branch. The branch varied from 1-5cm outer diameter. I presume these were both part of one polydomous colony. At the same site I found two additional nests. One was in the basal 5cm of a dead stick. A Crematogaster curvispinosa colony was in the same stick, and the two nests were separated only by a thin wall. The other nest was in a dead stick lodged in the canopy.
At Tortuguero I found two nests, one in a 1-2m tall vertical dead stick, the other in the center of a rotten branch in an old treefall.
At Pitilla Station in the Guanacaste Conservation Area, C. Chavez collected a nest in a small Cecropia tree.
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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