Dolichoderinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Mexico south to Bolivia and southern Brazil. Costa Rica: southern Pacific lowlands.
Identification
Color red brown with dark gaster; scapes and mesosomal dorsum with abundant delicate erect setae; dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum meeting at angle but not produced as a projecting flange; face and mesosomal dorsum sublucid; anterodorsal pronotum long and tapering, with no development of humeri.
This species is like a hairy version of lutosus.
Natural History
From MacKay 1993:
Little is known of this common species. Nests are usually found in hollow twigs, up to 800 meters in elevation. It commonly occurs in disturbed habitats and is often imported into the United States on banana debris and on orchids. Workers rapidly escape when the nest is opened. This species nests together with stingless bees (Harada, pers. comm.) and with Camponotus sp. in mangrove swamps. Loose sexuals have been collected in Feb. (Guatemala, Guiana), April (Panama, Peru), May (Mexico), June (Guiana), Sept. and Nov. (Brasil). [MacKay Literature Cited]
In Costa Rica, I know this species from one stray worker I collected at San Pedrillo in Corcovado National Park. However, the types of D. championi, a junior synonym of diversus, were collected by Tonduz in Costa Rica. I twice collected the species in the Santa Marta area of Colombia, once in a 9mm diameter dead stem, and once in a 10mm diameter live stem of a Brosimum(?) with large, pink scale insects on the interior walls.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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