Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia. Costa Rica: Atlantic slope of Cordillera Volcanica Central, from 50 to 1100m.
Identification
Petiolar node in the form of a thick, erect scale, with anterior and posterior faces subparallel.
Natural History
The genus Proceratium comprises mostly rare and cryptic ants of leaf litter and soil, distributed throughout the world in both tropical and temperate zones (Baroni Urbani and de Andrade 2003). Some species of the genus are known to be specialized predators of spider eggs (Brown 1980).
In Costa Rica this species is known from several collections in wet forest habitats. Isolated workers have been collected in Winkler and Berlese samples from La Selva Biological Station and from the 500m site on the Barva Transect. An alate queen was taken in a Project ALAS Malaise trap sample (9-21 April 2001) from the 1100m site on the Barva transect.
Type data
Proceratium mancum Mann 1922:6. Syntype worker: Honduras, Cecilia (Mann) [USNM].
Literature Cited
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1980 ("1979"). A remarkable new species of Proceratium, with dietary and other notes on the genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 86:337-346.
Mann, W. M. 1922. Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 61:1-54.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
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