Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
Range
Brazil (Amapa), Guyana, Costa Rica. Costa Rica: scattered localities throughout country.
Identification
Antennae 11-segmented; metasternal lobes subangulate; mandibles smooth and shining at inner half of upper surface; sides of thorax punctate and with feeble rugosities; propodeal spiracles directed upward, highly visible in dorsal view.
Natural History
The type series of N. pleuriticus was collected in an ant-plant in Kartabo, Guyana. Wheeler collected a nest with workers, queens, and males from the petiole of a small Tachigali. These plants are normally inhabited by specialized Pseudomyrmex species, and this record probably represents an opportunistic association rather than any specialized behavior.
I have collected this species, usually as strays on low vegetation or in treefalls, at several sites on the Osa Peninsula (0-300m), near Las Alturas in the Cordillera de Talamanca (1200m), the Barva Transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park (500m), the Penas Blancas Valley east of Monteverde (800m), and on the Pacific slope just below Monteverde (850m).
In the Las Alturas area, in a pasture with recently felled trees, I found a nest in a live branch of a felled Calophyllum tree. Near Monteverde I found a nest in the lower live stems of Triplaris melaenodendron. This tree, instead of being inhabited by the usual obligate Azteca longiceps, was inhabited by numerous opportunistic species including Crematogaster, Pseudomyrmex, Camponotus, Cephalotes, and these Nesomyrmex.
In general it appears that pleuriticus prefers nesting in live stems.
Comments
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
Go back to top