Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica: known from two Atlantic slope sites, Penas Blancas Valley (800m elevation) and Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve (500m).
Identification
Mandible short and curving downward in profile; lateral head capsule with the antennal scrobe mostly or entirely smooth and shining; propodeal spines present (former Glamyromyrmex); leading edge of scape lacking erect setae; disc of postpetiole in dorsal view very broadly U-shaped or V-shaped, with an extremely deeply concave anterior face; spongiform tissue absent from ventral surface of petiole, postpetiole and first gastral sternite; face lacking erect setae; head in side view extremely flattened; pronotal humeral hair absent. Also see Bolton (2000:173).
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
This species is known from two wet forest localities in Costa Rica, where it has been collected in Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor. The handful of known specimens are workers and one dealate queen.
Type Data
Pyramica longinoi Bolton 2000:173, fig. 128. Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Alajuela Prov., Rio Penas Blancas, 10 degrees 19'N, 84 degrees 43'W, 800m, 23.v.1990, #2701-s (J. Longino) [INBIO]. Paratype workers, dealate queen: same data as holotype; same data but 26-28.iv.1987, #1579-s; Costa Rica, Prov. Limon, Reserva Biologica Hitoy-Cerere, 9 degrees 40'N, 83 degrees 02'W, 500m, 30.viii.1985, #0970-s (J. Longino) [INBIO, BMNH, MCZ, LACM, UCD, USNM, JTLC].
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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