Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Full Range: Costa Rica, Panama.
Costa Rican Range: Cordillera de Tilaran, Cordillera de Guanacaste, Atlantic lowlands.
Identification
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; mandibles relatively short (MI 33-45); propodeal suture moderately impressed; total head length less than 0.90mm; eyes relatively small, with 14 or fewer ommatidia, with 2-4 in longest row; head in full-face view relatively broad, CI 74-81; in profile head not strongly dorsoventrally flattened, the maximum depth of the head capsule 0.45-0.52 x head length; color red-brown to dark brown; pair of mesonotal setae conspicuous, often erect or tilted forward; erect hairs on first gastral tergite simple, acute or blunt apicaly but not remiform nor flattened and expanded apically; backcurved pair of stout hairs located posteriorly on petiole dorsum slender, scarcely thicker apically than basally; scape relatively short, SI 48-52.
Bolton described this species as "an extra-large version of brevicornis," and stated "I record this as a separate species with some trepidation as its close relationship with brevicornis is obvious." The characters are those of brevicornis, except larger size, relatively shorter scapes, and larger eyes.
Similar species: P. brevicornis.
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
This species is only known from a handful of specimens, all from litter samples from rainforest floor. The types are from the San Ramon forest reserve in the Cordillera de Tilaran. I collected a worker at La Selva Biological Station. Bob Anderson collected a worker at Pitilla in the Cordillera de Guanacaste. David Olson collected a worker in Cerro Pata de Macho, Chiriqui Province, Panama.
Original Description
Pyramica crementa Bolton 2000:182. Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Prov. Alajuela, Cordillera de Tilaran, Res. For. de San Ramon, ca 750m, iii.1990 (P. M. Hammond) [BMNH]. Paratype worker: same data as holotype [MCZ].
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.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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