Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
Above images are of holotype. Additional images: holotype worker, dorsal view (reduced, original); mandible (reduced, original); scape (reduced, original); label (reduced, original).
Video of colony from which holotype selected (click here). I made this video in the ALAS lab in 2001, shortly after I collected the colony.
Range
Costa Rica (type locality): Cordillera Volcanica Central (Braulio Carrillo National Park, 1070m).
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 without a tooth or distinctly enlarged denticle at or near the midlength; labral lobes short, trigger hairs at apices of lobes long; outer margins of mandibles relatively straight; mandibles short and thick, with inner margin convex; mandible with exactly 2 small preapical teeth and no denticles; ground pilosity of head abundant and conspicuous; erect setae on gaster remiform; katepisternum and part of side of propodeum smooth and shining.
HL 0.695, ML 0.397, HW 0.568, SL 0.330, CI 82, MI 57.
Similar species: subedentata, cascanteae, oconitrilloae, gundlachi, eggersi, trieces.
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999, 2000).
This species occurs in a restricted elevational band, from 500m to 1500m on the Barva transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park. It is arboreal, nesting under epiphytes. A colony was discovered during a 2001 Project ALAS expedition to the 1100m site, an area of continuous cloud forest. A populous nest was under an epiphyte mat in a recent treefall. I found workers and brood, but no sexuals. Subsequently workers were obtained in Project ALAS Berlese samples of epiphytic material from the same and two other sites on the Barva Transect.
Types
Holotype worker: Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 16 km SSE La Virgen (10¡16'N 84¡05'W), 1100 m elevation, 11.II.2001, leg. J. Longino#4375, specimen code JTLC000008506 (INBC).
18 Paratype workers: same data as holotype, specimen code JTLC000008505 (MCZC), JTLC000008507 (LACM), JTLC000008508 (UCDC), JTLC000008509 (CASC), JTLC000008510 (USNM), JTLC000008511, LACM ENT 144683 (BMNH), JTLC000008512 (NMW), JTLC000008513, JTLC000008514, LACM ENT 144684 (JTLC); same data as holotype but 14.II.2001, leg. Project ALAS 11/B/BE/029, INB0003212274 (JTLC); Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 11 km SE La Virgen (10¡20'N 84¡04'W), 500 m elevation, 17.II.2003, leg. Project ALAS 05/B/BV/017, INB0003604821, INB0003604822 (INBC); Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 10 km NE Vara Blanca (10¡14'N 84¡05'W), 1500 m elevation, 14.III.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BE/052, INB0003662486 (INBC); same data but 20.III.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BE/068, INB0003662711 (INBC); same data but 8.II.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BV/001, INB0003662491 (INBC); same data but 14.II.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BV/014, INB0003662502 (INBC).
Description
Worker: With the characters of the P. gundlachi group, sensu Bolton (2000); inner margin of mandible evenly convex for nearly entire length; preapical mandibular dentition consisting of two well-defined small teeth proximal to apicodorsal tooth, second (basalmost) tooth larger than first, second tooth sometimes followed by minute denticle; eye with about 15 ommatidia; basalmost projecting seta on leading edge of scape curved away from base, remaining setae broadly fan-shaped and projecting forward; ground pilosity of clypeus, face, and promesonotum abundant, remiform, subdecumbent; dorsal face of propodeum and gastral dorsum lacking ground pilosity; most of mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole feebly punctate, mesopleuron and part of side of propodeum smooth and shiny; metanotal groove broadly and shallowly impressed, such that promesonotum and dorsal face of propodeum form two separate convexities; gastral dorsum smooth and shiny with short, sparse basal costulae; pairs of stout clavate setae on sides of head at upper scrobe margin, upper face near vertex margin, pronotal humeri, mesonotum, and petiolar node; postpetiole and gaster with abundant stout clavate setae; color orange.
Measurements (holotype): ML 0.418, HL 0.733, HW 0.612, SL 0.332, MeL 0.710.
Etymology
Named for Maylin Paniagua G., Project ALAS Parataxonomist from 1994 to 2005.
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.
Longino, J. T. 2006. New species and nomenclatural changes for the Costa Rican ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecologische Nachrichten 8:131-143.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
Go back to top
