Adelomyrmex brenesi

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Adelomyrmex brenesi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Adelomyrmex
Species: A. brenesi
Binomial name
Adelomyrmex brenesi
Longino, 2006

Adelomyrmex brenesi jtlc000003382 profile 1.jpg

Adelomyrmex brenesi jtlc000003382 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

A montane endemic, known only from the peak of Volcan Barva, Costa Rica

Identification

Longino (2006) - A large montane version of Adelomyrmex foveolatus, differing in the much larger size and the step-like juncture of promesonotum and propodeum. In A. foveolatus the mesosoma forms a single arched convexity.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.18333333° to 9.5534501°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

This species is still only known from the material reported in Longino (2006). It is a montane endemic, known only from the peak of Volcan Barva. This is a forested mountaintop of relatively small area in the Cordillera Volcánica Central of Costa Rica. Adelomyrmex brenesi is restricted to a narrow elevation range at the very top of the peak, around 2000 m, and does not occur at lower elevations (Longino & Colwell 2011). In a quantitative inventory at this site, it occurred in 13 of 150 miniWinkler samples. This is a species clearly in danger of mountaintop extinction due to climate change (Colwell et al. 2008).

Castes

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • brenesi. Adelomyrmex brenesi Longino, 2006b: 132, figs. 1-3 (w.) COSTA RICA.
    • Status as species: Longino, 2012: 15.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Holotype: HL 0.814, HW 0.698, SL 0.519, MeL 0.822.

Mandible shining, coarsely striate, with five teeth on masticatory margin, masticatory margin meeting basal margin at obtuse angle, basal margin with stout triangular tooth at base near mandibular insertion; median lobe of clypeal plate a single blunt projection or slightly emarginate medially; lateral teeth of clypeal plate pronounced, triangular, interlocking with basal mandibular tooth when mandibles closed; anterior and medial face with striae mixed with large, widely-spaced foveae, grading posteriorly to area of large foveae separated by smooth, shiny interspaces, with foveae becoming sparser and smaller toward vertex margin; eye composed of 5 – 12 ommatidia, variably fused; hypostomal margin with small tooth; promesonotum smooth and shiny with sparse, shallow, piligerous foveae; mesopleuron and propodeum with large rugae, rugae widely spaced with smooth and shiny interspaces, rugae on dorsal face and upper half of posterior face of propodeum transverse, lower half of posterior face smooth and shining; promesonotum forming single convexity, dropping step-like to flat dorsal face of propodeum; propodeal spines triangular, acute, about as long as wide; petiolar and postpetiolar dorsa smooth except for piligerous puncta, shining; anteroventral margin of petiole lacking tooth, with at most a narrow longitudinal lamella; anteroventral margin of postpetiole with a strongly projecting transverse flange that appears as an acute tooth in side view; gaster smooth except for piligerous puncta, shining; mandibles, scapes, face, sides of head, femora, tibiae, petiolar and postpetiolar nodes, and gaster covered with abundant, long, subdecumbent pilosity; promesonotum covered with similar but somewhat more erect pilosity; dorsal face of propodeum with two long setae inclined forward, otherwise pilosity sparse; color dark red brown.

Type Material

Holotype worker: Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 6 km ENE Vara Blanca (10° 11' N, 84° 07' W), 2000 m elevation, 13. III.2002, leg. Project ALAS, specimen code JTLC00000 3382 (Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad).

Paratypes: 4 workers, same data as holotype, specimen codes INB0003223968 (Museum of Comparative Zoology), INB0003223966 (Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History), INB0003223953 (University of California, Davis), INB0003223935 (John T. Longino Collection).

Etymology

Named for Danilo Brenes M., Project ALAS Parataxonomist from 1992 to 2006.

References

  • Longino, J.T. 2006. New species and nomenclatural changes for the Costa Rican ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecologische Nachrichten 8, 131–143.
  • Longino, J.T. 2012. A review of the ant genus Adelomyrmex Emery 1897 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Central America. Zootaxa 3456, 1–35.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.