Dacetini, Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: worker, dorsal view (small, large).
Range
Costa Rica (mid-elevation Atlantic slope and northern Cordilleras).
Identification
Apical fork of mandible with one intercalary tooth; mandible with no preapical teeth; gaster smooth and shining; gaster with erect, linear, somewhat stiffened setae. See also Bolton (2000:518).
Head length 0.736mm, mandible length 0.452mm, head width 0.605mm, CI 82, MI 61 (n=1).
Similar species: micretes, ludia.
Natural History
Brown and Wilson (1959) summarize the genus as follows:
"Widespread in tropics and warm temperate areas. Primarily forest-dwelling; some species occur in grassland and arid scrub. ... Nests mostly in soil and rotting wood; a few species live in arboreal plant cavities in tropical rain forest. Foraging hypogaeic to epigaeic-arboreal. Food: most species are collembolan feeders; a few are polyphagous predators or occasionally feed on sugary substances..."
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a kinetic mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
sevesta occurs in cloud forest and mid-elevation montane forest down to 300m.
Selected Records
Winkler samples from Braulio Carrillo National Park at 300m, Penas Blancas Valley, and Monteverde (where it is relatively common).
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., Wilson, E. O. 1959. The evolution of the dacetine ants. Quarterly Review of Biology 34:278-294.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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