Crematogaster flavomicrops

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Crematogaster flavomicrops
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Crematogaster
Species: C. flavomicrops
Binomial name
Crematogaster flavomicrops
Longino, 2003

Crematogaster flavomicrops casent0193764 p 1 high.jpg

Crematogaster flavomicrops casent0193764 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Longino (2003) - Crematogaster flavomicrops occurs in lowland to mid-montane wet forest habitats. It is not common, and is most often encountered in Berlese samples or Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor. It has been twice collected in rotten wood on Isla Gorgona in Colombia (M. Baena, pers. comm.).

Identification

Longino (2003) - The combination of yellow coloration and very small eyes uniquely identify this species. Also, the dorsal pilosity is abundant and somewhat short and stubble-like. Similar species are minutissima and Crematogaster wardi, which have larger eyes and sparser, longer, more flexuous dorsal setae. It is also similar to Crematogaster cubaensis (a Cuban endemic), which has similarly abundant short pilosity but larger eyes.

Specimens from San Vito area in the southern mountains of Costa Rica are more robust, with the posterior face of propodeum partially punctate. In South America, there is a tendency for the lateral carinulae of mesonotum to form angle or tuberculate juncture dividing dorsal and posterior faces. In Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador the propodeal spines are less upturned. In Venezuela and Brazil the dorsal pilosity of the mesosoma is less dense, approaching the condition seen in Crematogaster minutissima. A collection from Venezuela has a very small alate queen, like minutissima, while a collection from Colombia has very large alate queens. This parallels variation in queen size seen in the minutissima complex in North America, and it remains to be seen whether this is inter versus intraspecific variation. The relatively small worker eye is a consistent character uniting these specimens.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 15.7440821° to -5.997222222°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica (type locality), Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Venezuela.

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

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • flavomicrops. Crematogaster flavomicrops Longino, 2003a: 68 (w.q.) COSTA RICA, COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA, ECUADOR, BRAZIL (Amazonas).
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 10 paratype workers.
    • Type-locality: holotype Costa Rica: Prov. Heredia, La Selva Biological Station, 10°26’N, 84°01’W, 50 m., 15.vii.1986, JTL1386-s (J. Longino); paratypes: 4 workers same locality but 10.v.1974 (Talbot & VanDevender), 1 worker same locality but 1.vii.1993, Project ALAS B/02/139, 5 workers same locality but 1.iii.1994, Project ALAS B/12/419.
    • Type-depositories: INBC (holotype); BMNH, LACM, MCZC, MHNG, NHMB, UCDC, USNM (paratypes).
    • Status as species: Pedraza & Fernández, 2019: 896.
    • Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela.

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 0.462, HW 0.464, HC 0.441, SL 0.350, EL 0.095, WL 0.472, SPL 0.110, PTH 0.123, PTL 0.154, PTW 0.137, PPL 0.111, PPW 0.148, CI 100, OI 21, SI 76, PTHI 80, PTWI 89, PPI 133, SPI 23. Other specimens: HL 0.479, 0.583, 0.610; HW 0.488, 0.583, 0.613; HC 0.466, 0.545, 0.585; SL 0.359, 0.480, 0.460; EL 0.107, 0.111, 0.123; A11L 0.206; A11W 0.090; A10L 0.090; A10W 0.080; A09L 0.039; A09W 0.055; A08L 0.031; A08W 0.046; WL 0.523, 0.621, 0.642; SPL 0.110, 0.085, 0.121; PTH 0.125, 0.144, 0.155; PTL 0.160, 0.174, 0.194; PTW 0.149, 0.173, 0.185; PPL 0.121, 0.149, 0.149; PPW 0.163, 0.184, 0.180; CI 102, 100, 100; OI 22, 19, 20; SI 75, 82, 75; PTHI 78, 83, 80; PTWI 93, 99, 95; PPI 135, 123, 121; SPI 21, 14, 19; ACI 1.85.

Color yellow orange; workers monomorphic in size.

Mandibles feebly striate on proximal half, smooth and shining with large piligerous puncta on distal half; clypeus with two longitudinal carinulae at anterior margin, anterior margin gently convex to straight; head slightly longer than wide, subquadrate, with flat posterior border; antenna with terminal two segments enlarged to form a club; scapes with abundant suberect flexuous setae; when scapes laid back from antennal insertions, they barely surpass margin of vertex; face smooth and shining; face covered with abundant, short, moderately stiffened, amber setae, no appressed pubescence; in face view short setae project from lateral and posterior margins; eye small, 5-6 ommatidia across long axis.

Promesonotum in lateral profile short, convex, forming an evenly curved arch; propodeal suture deep in dorsal view but partially obscured in profile by lateral carinulae that bridge the suture; propodeum with short, differentiated dorsal face and longer posterior face; propodeal spines short, spiniform, upturned; pronotal dorsum largely smooth and shining, with traces of longitudinal carinulae laterally; mesonotum with lateral carinae that converge toward propodeal suture; medial mesonotum concave, smooth and shining; dorsal face of propodeum feebly rugulose, posterior face smooth and shining; side of pronotum smooth and shining; katepisternum and side of propodeum shining, largely smooth with traces of feeble carinulae; mesosomal setae somewhat stiffened, abundant, forming a stubble over promesonotum and propodeal dorsum, variable length, humeral seta 0.14mm; tibiae with abundant short subdecumbent to erect setae, none longer than maximum tibial width.

Petiole in side view trapezoidal, faintly microareolate; anteroventral tooth small, rounded to subacute; dorsal face of petiole smooth and shining, subquadrate, about as wide as long, with a pair of setae on each posterolateral tubercle; postpetiole without anteroventral tooth, postpetiole in dorsal view globular, wider than long, with 6-8 setae; fourth abdominal tergite smooth and shining, with abundant medium-length suberect somewhat stiffened amber setae, no appressed pubescence.

Queen

A normal queen (dorsal face of propodeum drops steeply from postscutellum and much of propodeum appears ventral to scutellum and postscutellum) with general shape, sculpture, and pilosity characters of the worker; size characters as in Figures.

Type Material

Holotype worker. Costa Rica, Prov. Heredia, La Selva Biological Station, 10°26'N, 84°01'W, 50m, 15 Jul 1986 (Longino, collection code JTL1386-s) Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, specimen code LACM ENT 144384. Paratypes. Four workers, same locality as holotype, 10 May 1974 (Talbot and VanDevender) Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, specimen code LACM ENT 144385; one worker, same locality, 1 Jul 1993 (INBio-OET, Project ALAS collection code B/02/139) The Natural History Museum, specimen code INBIOCRI001233311; one worker, same locality, 1 Mar 1994 (INBio-OET, Project ALAS collection code B/12/419) University of California, Davis, specimen code INBIOCRI001242455; same data Museum of Comparative Zoology, specimen code INBIOCRI001242451; same data National Museum of Natural History, specimen code INBIOCRI001242452; same data Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève, specimen code INBIOCRI001242453; same data Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, specimen code INBIOCRI001242454. Crematogaster JTL-011: Longino et al. 2002.

Etymology

This species is named for its yellow and small eyes.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
  • INBio Collection (via Gbif)
  • Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
  • Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
  • 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.
  • Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
  • Longino, J.T. 2003. The Crematogaster (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) of Costa Rica. Zootaxa 151:1-150
  • Sandoval V. E., and G. Zambrano. 2007. Catálogo de las hormigas presentes en el Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. Taller Editorial de la Universidad del Cauca, Popayán. 60 pp.