Ectatomminae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: worker mandible (small, large); Figure of queen mandible, from Brown (1965).
Range
Costa Rica (Central Valley, Atlantic slope).
Identification
Mandible subfalcate, without well-differentiated basal margin.
Comments
This species was described from a single holotype queen, collected by Schmidt in the vicinity of San Jose in 1940. The diagnosis from Brown (1965) is as follows:
A medium-sized Typhlomyrmex with unusually elongate, narrowly subtriangular mandibles; basal border short and curving broadly into long, indistinctly denticulate masticatory border; apical tooth very long and acute. Petiolar node as seen from above broader than long, with feebly concave (almost straight) anterior border and strongly concave posterior border. Postpetiole with a distinct, sharp median longitudinal carina on the anterior third of its dorsal surface.
Additional description included the measurements HL 0.72, HW (without eyes) 0.63, SL 0.52.
Until this report the species has remained known only from the holotype queen. I here tentatively identify the first worker of this species. It was collected from a Winkler sample of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor. It was in one of the samples from Conservation International's TEAM project (AMI-1-W-079-06), from mature lowland wet forest of La Selva Biological Station.
Type
Typhlomyrmex prolatus Brown 1965:72. Holotype queen: Costa Rica, San Jose (Schmidt) [Kempf collection].
Literature Cited
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1965. Contributions to a reclassification of the Formicidae. IV. Tribe Typhlomyrmecini (Hymenoptera). Psyche (Camb.) 72:65-78.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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