Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Full Range: Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Guyana, Ecuador, Peru.
Costa Rican Range: Atlantic lowlands.
Identification
Mandibles in side view straight, not broadly curved ventrally; mandibles relatively short, subtriangular, much of the apical portion meeting along a serially toothed masticatory margin when closed (former Smithistruma); color red-brown; face punctate; sides of posterior half of mesosoma completely and densely punctulate; face and mesosoma with abundant, stiff, short setae (stubble); leading edge of scape with a row of conspicuous projecting curved hairs, of which those distal to the subbasal bend distinctly curve toward the base of the scape; pronotal humeral hair absent; head in profile strongly dorsoventrally flattened; dorsal surfaces of middle and hind tibiae with abundant freely projecting suberect to erect simple hairs. Also see Bolton (2000:218).
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
This species occurs in wet forest habitats. It inhabits leaf litter on the forest floor. I have only seen it from Winkler samples, and one nocturnal forager.
Original Description
Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) depressiceps Weber 1934:47, figs. 6, 14. Syntype worker, male: Guyana, Kartabo, 19.vii.1920 (W. M. Wheeler) [MCZ, USNM, LACM].
Later moved to Smithistruma, then Pyramica. See Bolton (2000) for complete synonymy.
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.
Weber, N. A. 1934. Notes on neotropical ants, including the descriptions of new forms. Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 4:22-59.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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