Simopelta paeminosa

Simopelta paeminosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Ponerinae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	Simopelta
Species:	S. paeminosa
Binomial name
	Simopelta paeminosa; Snelling, R.R., 1971 Specimen Labels

Workers have been collected from leaf litter. Longino - This species occurs in mature montane forest habitats, generally above 1000m elevation. I know it from the upper Peñas Blancas Valley, the 1100m site on the Barva transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park, Wilson Botanical Garden near San Vito, and the Bocas del Toro area of Panama. I also have one collection given to me by Bill Brown from Valle, Colombia. He identified it as an undescribed species, but it matches my concept of paeminosa. For one collection (JTL0863) I observed workers and brood caches in the leaf litter. The larvae were of uniform size, and closely matched the "young larva" illustrations in Wheeler and Wheeler (1986, Figs. 11b, 13a, 14c). Another collection (JTL4360) was a colony in a clump of dirt in the middle of a recent clearing in mature forest. I tried excavating it and found workers and larvae scattered in the dirt mound, but I never found a queen.

Identification

Mackay and Mackay (2008) - The relatively small eye would separate this species from Simopelta oculata and Simopelta andersoni. The granulated sculpturing of the head distinguishes it from several species, which have transverse striae or rugae (i.e. S. transversa). The three-toothed mandible separates it from the Brazilian Simopelta curvata. The dark color distinguishes it from the Brazilian Simopelta minima and the Central and South American Simopelta pergandei. The punctures on the dorsum of the postpetiole would distinguish it from all the other species. Five specimens (5 k SW of the Estación Biológica Las Cruces) differ in having finer and sparser punctures (about 6 per 0.1 mm2 versus about 10 per 0.1 mm²), as well as in having small punctures on the second gastral tergum, which are lacking in the typical S. paeminosa, and could be a new species.

Keys including this Species

Key to Simopelta species

Distribution

Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.3° to 8.537981°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica (type locality), Panama.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Habitat

Wet montane tropical and cloud forest, 1050 - 1150m. Costa Rica: montane sites from Cordillera de Tilarán southward.

Biology

Castes

Known only from the worker caste.

Images from AntWeb


Worker. Specimen code casent0249244. Photographer Shannon Hartman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by PSWC, Philip S. Ward Collection.


Paratype of Simopelta paeminosa. Worker. Specimen code casent0902468. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Worker


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Nomenclature

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

paeminosa. Simopelta paeminosa Snelling, R.R. 1971b: 17, fig. 1 (w.) COSTA RICA.
- Type-material: holotype worker, 21 paratype workers.
- Type-locality: holotype Costa Rica: Puntarenas, 4 mi. S San Vito de Java, 15.viii.1967 (R.W. McDiarmid); paratypes with same data.
- Type-depositories: LACM (holotype); AMNH, LACM, MCZC (paratypes).
- Combination in Belonopelta: Baroni Urbani, 1975b: 300 (in key);
- combination in Simopelta: Bolton, 1995b: 383.
- Status as species: Baroni Urbani, 1975b: 300 (in key); Brandão, 1991: 331; Bolton, 1995b: 383; Mackay & Mackay, 2008: 315 (redescription).
- Distribution: Costa Rica.

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

Description

Worker

Mackay and Mackay (2008) - These are moderate sized (total length slightly over 4 mm), dark reddish black ants, with appendages being somewhat paler. The mandible has three teeth, the basalmost tooth usually being poorly developed. The anterior border of the clypeus is broadly convex, without a spine. The eye is relatively small (0.08 mm, maximum diameter about ½ distance between anterior edge of eye and anterior edge of head). The anterior face of the petiole is broadly rounded, meeting the posterior, vertical face at a right angle.

Erect and suberect hairs are present on most surfaces, including the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the head, scape, mesosoma, petiole, gaster, the hairs on the legs are finer and suberect. The entire head, mesosoma, and petiole are granulate and dull, or with poorly defined rugae, the dorsum of the propodeum and petiole have poorly defined, transverse rugae, the dorsum of the postpetiole is covered with scattered, punctures, with the region between the punctures being smooth and glossy.

Type Material

Mackay and Mackay (2008) - Worker, Costa Rica: Puntarenas, 4 mi S San Vito de Java [paratype seen, Museum of Comparative Zoology]. The holotype is deposited in the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, paratypes are in the LACM, American Museum of Natural History and MCZC.

References

Baroni Urbani, C. 1975b. Contributo alla conoscenza dei generi Belonopelta Mayr e Leiopelta gen. n. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 48: 295-310 (page 300, combination in Belonopelta)
Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 383, combination in Simopelta, revived combination, catalogue)
Esteves, F.A., Fisher, B.L. 2021. Corrieopone nouragues gen. nov., sp. nov., a new Ponerinae from French Guiana (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 1074, 83–173 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1074.75551).
Mackay, W.P., Mackay, E.E. 2008. Revision of the ants of the genus Simopelta Mann (pp. 285-328). In Jíminez, E., Fernández, F., Arias, T.M. & Lozano-Zambrano, F.H. (eds). Sistematica, biogeografia y conservación de las hormigas cazadoras de Colombia: 609 pp. Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Bogota.
Snelling, R. R. 1971b. A new species of Simopelta from Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bull. South. Calif. Acad. Sci. 70: 16-17 (page 17, fig. 1 worker described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
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 N. M. Nadkarni. 1990. A comparison of ground and canopy leaf litter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a Neotropical montane forest. Psyche (Cambridge) 97: 81-94.
Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
Mackay W. P., and E. E. Mackay. 2008. Revision of the ants of the genus Simopelta Mann. Pp. 285-328 in: Jiménez, E.; Fernández, F.; Arias, T.M.; Lozano-Zambrano, F. H. (eds.) 2008. Sistemática, biogeografía y conservación de las hormigas cazadoras de Colombia. Bogotá: Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, xiv + 609 pp.
Snelling R. R. 1971. A new species of Simopelta from Costa Rica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 70: 16-17.