Dacetini, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Costa Rica: Monteverde.
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 greater than 0.90mm; eyes relatively large, with 24 or more ommatidia in total, with 6-7 in the longest row; scapes relatively long (SI 66-67). Also see Bolton (2000:192).
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a static pressure mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
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 three workers, all from Monteverde cloud forest. Two workers were collected in a rotten log by P. S. Ward, and one worker was collected in a sifted litter sample, taken as part of a class project taught by J. T. Longino.
Original Description
Pyramica pasisops Bolton 2000:192. Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Puntarenas Prov., Monteverde, 1500m, 26.v.1979, ex rotten log, montane rainforest, #3530 (P. S. Ward) [BMNH]. Paratype workers: same data as holotype; Costa Rica, Puntarenas Prov., Monteverde, 10 degrees 18'N, 84 degrees 48'W, 13-1600m, Univ. Calif. EAP 1991, wet forest, ex sifted leaf litter [UCD, INBIO].
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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