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Brown (1965) describes the biology of Typhlomyrmex as follows:
So far as known, Typhlomyrmex is restricted to the warmer parts of the Americas, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. Within this region, T. rogenhoferi is the most widespread and by far the most often-collected species, being an inhabitant of rotten logs in forest. This species is common in the Amazon Basin, where I have seen nests of several hundred workers moving in file through the rot zone just beneath the bark of a log. I have examined several such aggregations in the field, but I was not able to find definite indications of the prey of these undoubtedly predaceous ants.T. pusillus appears to be a soil dweller in cultivated and pampas areas as well as in forest (Kempf, 1961). It also seems to exist at higher elevations (e.g., in a coffee plantation at Venecia, near Medellin, Colombia). Probably it is strongly subterranean in foraging and nesting habits.
Key to Typhlomyrmex Species Known from Costa Rica, Based on Workers and Queens.
10a. Petiolar node longer than high, without a differentiated posterior face: rogenhoferi
10b. Petiolar node as high as or higher than long, with a differentiated posterior face: 100
100a. Mandible subfalcate, without well-differentiated basal and masticatory margins: prolatus
100b. Mandible subtriangular, with well-differentiated basal and masticatory margins: pusillus
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1965. Contributions to a reclassification of the Formicidae. IV. Tribe Typhlomyrmecini (Hymenoptera). Psyche (Camb.) 72:65-78.
Kempf, W. W. 1961. A survey of the ants of the soil fauna in Surinam (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Stud. Entomol. 4:481-524.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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