Eurhopalothrix schmidti (Menozzi, 1936) Revised Status

Longino, John T., 2013, A review of the Central American and Caribbean species of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix Brown and Kempf, 1961 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with a key to New World species, Zootaxa 3693 (2), pp. 101-151 : 137-139

Eurhopalothrix schmidti (Menozzi, 1936) Revised Status

( Figs 13 B, 14A, 26, 29, 35)

Rhopalothrix schmidti Menozzi, 1936: 82 , figs. I(2,3), II(1,2). Syntype worker, queen, larva: Costa Rica, La Caja (H. Schmidt) [DEIC] (examined). Junior synonym of E. gravis: Brown and Kempf, 1960: 211 . Revised Status.

Geographic range. Costa Rica.

Diagnosis. Mandible with single tooth row; face with 20 specialized spatulate setae; ground pilosity of face short, flattened, appressed, sparse, extending across entire face, including median area and frontal lobes; face punctatorugose, evenly convex (lacking longitudinal median impression); pronotum with 1 pair spatulate setae, lacking on mesonotum; first gastral tergite with full complement 4 pairs spatulate setae in two longitudinal rows, posterior row often flanked by additional pair. Similar to E. circumcapillum , E. megalops , E. ortizae , E. oscillum , E. semicapillum .

Description. Worker. HW 0.75–0.80, HL 0.71–0.77, SL 0.42–0.47, SLL 0.05, CI 102–106, SLI 11–12 (n=5). Labrum as in Fig. 2 B, anterolateral gibbosities of basal portion developed as sharply right-angled, ventrallydirected teeth, apical portion elongate, flexed dorsally, relatively narrow, with a notch at apex, such that apex shallowly bilobed; apex with a fringe of short, non-capitate translucent setae; mandible triangular, dorsal surface convex, smooth and shining apically, grading to punctate basally, rounding into ventral surface; interior surface concave, smooth and shining; masticatory margin a single row of 11 flattened acute triangular teeth; scape with weakly developed basal lobe; scrobe deep, sharply delimited dorsally and ventrally, abutting deep antennal socket; surface of scrobe faintly foveolate; eye small, about 6 ommatidia across greatest diameter; clypeus approximately planar, uniformly punctate, dull; sides of head above eyes moderately angulate; surface of face uniformly convex and uniformly punctatorugose; occipital carina indistinct; undersurface of head uniformly punctate; postgenal suture a well-developed longitudinal trough, darker than surrounding cuticle.

Promesonotal profile somewhat flat-topped, meeting flat dorsal face of propodeum at obtuse angle; metanotal groove a broad shallow trough, often delimited posteriorly by low but distinct rim that delimits dorsal face of propodeum, groove in dorsal view with parallel longitudinal rugae; dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum distinct, meeting at obtuse angle, dorsal face shorter than posterior face; propodeal spine laminar, translucent, triangular, acute, ventral margin rounding into very narrow infradental lamella that extends down posterior face to propodeal lobe; populations in Cordillera de Talamanca with relatively narrow spines that meet infradental lamella at nearly right angle; population from Cordillera de Tilarán with broader, more triangular spine that meets infradental lamella at obtuse angle; propodeal spiracle small, directed posteriorly in small concavity between base of propodeal spine and dorsum of metapleural gland bulla; all of mesosoma except posterior face of propodeum uniformly punctate with smooth interspaces; posterior face of propodeum smooth to very faintly sculptured; no transverse carinae between bases of propodeal spines; puncta on promesonotum larger than those on katepisternum and side of propodeum; interspaces sublucid on promesonotum, more matte on katepisternum and side of propodeum.

Petiolar peduncle joins anterior face of petiolar node at rounded obtuse angle; anterior face of node meets sloping flat dorsal face at rounded right angle; posterior face of node very short; ventral margin of petiole with short, acute, anteroventral tooth; postpetiole low and broad, with a broad longitudinal sulcus dorsally; first gastral sternite lacking anterior sagittal keel; petiole, postpetiole, and gaster densely punctate; interspaces between puncta on first gastral tergite similar in width to puncta, sublucid; sculpture on first gastral sternite similar but puncta and interspaces larger.

Dorsal surface of scape covered with uniform short, appressed to decumbent, flattened setae; leading edge of scape with projecting spatulate setae; ground pilosity on clypeus obsolete; ground pilosity of face similar in size and shape to ground setae on dorsal scape, appressed, sparse, separated from each other by distance greater than or equal to length, more or less uniformly distributed across entire face, including frontal lobes (becoming smaller on frontal lobes); projecting specialized setae spatulate, erect and highly differentiated from ground pilosity, full complement typically 20, with curved anterior row of 8, transverse median row of 6 (the outermost at outermost angles of sides of head), and posterior row of 6 on vertex margin; ground pilosity obsolete on dorsal mesosoma and metasoma; typically one pair of projecting spatulate setae on pronotum, similar to those on face; legs with ground pilosity denser and more flattened than that on face, dense on apices of femora, dorsal and anterior faces of mid and hind tibia, dorsal and posterior face of foretibia, sparser to absent elsewhere; apex of foretibia with 1 larger spatulate seta, apices of mid and hind tibia with 2; basitarsus with 3–5 pairs suberect clavate setae, remaining tarsomeres each with pair of suberect clavate setae, tarsal setae smaller on foretarsus than on mid and hind tarsus; two large spatulate setae on hind margin of dorsal face of petiolar node; row of 4 spatulate setae on hind margin of postpetiole, median pair smaller than lateral pair; specialized setae of first gastral tergite spatulate, full complement 4 pairs in two longitudinal rows, posterior pair often flanked by additional pair (4 pairs along posterior border of tergite).

Color dark brown.

Queen. HW 0.78, HL 0.76, SL 0.47, SLL 0.05, CI 103, SLI 11 (n=1). Similar to worker in most respects; ocelli present; compound eye much larger than worker eye; anepisternum separated from katepisternum by U-shaped groove; metapleuron separated from propodeum by broad U-shaped groove; erect setae all weakly clavate, sublinear, not spatulate like worker setae; face with number and distribution of setae like worker; pronotum with 1 pair; mesoscutum with 8; axilla with 1; scutellum with 1 pair; first gastral tergite with number and arrangement similar to worker.

Biology. This species inhabits moist to wet montane forest. The types were collected as a nest series in Costa Rica's Central Valley, in the early 1900's, at a site that is now near the San José airport and long since developed. All recent collections are from Winkler samples of sifted litter and rotten wood from the forest floor. It is known from 1100–1670 m elevation. In Monteverde, in the Cordillera de Tilarán, it has a sharply parapatric distribution with E. ortizae ( Fig. 26 ) and may hybridize there (see Comments under E. ortizae ).

Figures

FIGURE 2. Eurhopalothrix labra. A. E. bolaui (Nicaragua, CASENT 0619922). B. E. semicapillum (Costa Rica, CASENT 0639342). C. E. ortizae (Costa Rica, LACM ENT 143281). D. E. gravis (Costa Rica, INB 0003212299). E. E. sepultura (Mexico, CASENT 0639334). F. E. mabuya (Cuba, CASENT 0630193). G. E. xibalba (Costa Rica, INB 0003698926). H. E. floridana (USA, LACM ENT 143276). I. E. cimu (Cuba, CASENT 0639337). A – H are dissected labra imaged in fluid. I is dry-mounted specimen, basal portion is not visible, and maxilla are visible in background. With the exception of E. cimu, specimen codes are for dry-mounted specimens from the same series, not the dissected specimen. Images are not to scale.

FIGURE 26. Detail distribution map of E. ortizae, E. schmidti, and intermediate specimens in the Monteverde area, Costa Rica. Dots are occurrences in separate Winkler samples.

FIGURE 13. A. Eurhopalothrix ortizae, showing narrow gastral setae. B. E. schmidti, showing more spatulate setae.