Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: queen, face view (small, large); lateral view (small, large); mandible (large).
Range
Costa Rica: montane regions of the cordilleras, extending to lower elevation on the southern Pacific slope.
Identification
Yellow to somewhat bicolored, with light-colored head and mesosoma, darker gaster; clypeal carinae weakly diverging, projecting to form pronounced anterior teeth; mandible with four teeth, basal tooth well developed so that mandible has differentiated masticatory and basal margins; promesonotum and dorsal face of propodeum more or less in same plane, metanotal groove a narrow notch. This is basically a robust version of JTL-002.
Similar species: JTL-002.
Natural History
This species inhabits montane wet and moist forest. On the Barva transect, it was commonly collected in Winkler and Berlese samples from the 500m and 1100m sites, yet has not been collected at the 300m site or La Selva. In the southern Pacific lowlands I have collections from a 500m site in Carara Biological Reserve and at 20m elevation near Ciudad Neily. It is also common in Winkler samples from the upper Pe–as Blancas Valley. Although most collections are from Winkler samples, it has occasionally been collected beneath epiphytes in treefalls, where it may be confused with JTL-002. I found an extensive colony with abundant alate queens and males in a small rainforest clearing, under a moss mat at the base of a small tree. Another collection was from Estacion Los Llanos near Santa Elena de Monteverde, a moist forest site on the Pacific slope; a worker was under a stone.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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