Ecitoninae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Range
Honduras (type locality), Costa Rica. Costa Rica: Atlantic lowlands.
Identification
Posterior face of propodeum straight, not concave, shorter than dorsal face; eye with distinct convex cornea; color light red brown; promesosomal dorsum relatively arched, not in same plane as dorsal face of propodeum; anteroventral petiolar margin with sharp recurved tooth.
Natural History
I know this species from two collections from La Selva Biological Station, in lowland rainforest. Both were nocturnal columns. In one case I saw a very fast, tight column running with brood. The exposed part of the column was 10-20m long. It emerged from a simple hole in ground under leaf litter, at which point there was a large pile of brood. Workers were transporting this brood 10-20m to a point between two buttresses, where they disappeared into a simple hole. The second observation was also a rapid, dense column. It was crossing the trail to river station near the Sura at 2300hrs. The column was descending from as high as I could see in the vegetation on one side, crossing the trail, and ascending into the vegetation on the other side. The steady stream of workers never diminished during the half hour I watched. None of the workers appeared to be carrying anything substantial, although I occasionally saw one with a tiny white object, perhaps an egg or small larva. Some workers were uniformly reddish, but others were reddish with contrasting bright yellow abdomens.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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