Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica: southern Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.
Identification
Vertex with prominent transverse ridge, a unique feature of this species; mandibles in full-face view linear, elongate and narrow; ventral surface of petiole without spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape with freely projecting hairs; inner margin of mandible with a clearly defined submedian tooth near the midlength; labral lobes long, trigger hairs at apices of lobes short; preapical denticles gradually decreasing in size. Also see Bolton (2000:179).
Natural History
Brown (1959) characterized the genus Neostruma (now part of Pyramica, see Bolton 1999) as forming
"small colonies, chiefly in the leaf litter of rain forest or tropical evergreen forest, and nests occupy cavities in rotting twigs, pieces of bark or similar forest-floor vegetable debris... The food... consists primarily of small entomobryomorph Collembola and possibly some other minute terrestrial arthropods as well. Hunting behavior is like that of Smithistruma [also now part of Pyramica] rather than like the Strumigenys so far studied."
This species is known from only two workers. Each one is from a Winkler sample of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor. Both samples were taken in lowland rainforest, one from the Osa Peninsula, and one from near Cahuita on the Atlantic coast.
Original Description
Pyramica aethegenys Bolton 2000:179. Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Prov. Puntarenas, Osa Peninsula, Rancho Quemado, 8 degrees 42'N, 83 degrees 33'W, 2-300m, 15.xii.1990, #2760-s (Longino) [BMNH]. Paratype worker: Costa Rica, Prov. Limon, 3km SSE Cahuita, 9 degrees 43'N, 82 degrees 50'W, 70m, 24.xii.1983, #6530-12 (P. S. Ward) [UCD].
Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 1999. Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33:1639-1689.
Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini, with a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malagasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65:1-1028.
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1959. A revision of the Dacetine ant genus Neostruma. Breviora 107:1-13.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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