Temnothorax augusti (Baroni Urbani, 1901)

Prebus, Matthew M., 2021, Taxonomic revision of the Temnothorax salvini clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a key to the clades of New World Temnothorax, PeerJ (e 11514) 9, pp. 1-462 : 121

augusti group overview

With four species (two described as new here), the augusti group is another small group with a range spanning the low-to-mid elevations of central Mexico to Central America ( Fig. 101 ). Although little is known about the biology of the members of this group, the nominal Temnothorax augusti was collected from epiphytes, and T. leucacanthoides sp. nov. was collected from a dead stalk of Asteraceae ; nesting in vegetation may prove to be the rule for this group as more collections are made. Members of this group may be confused with T. casanovai sp. nov. or T. tenuisculptus . They may be separated from these by the petiolar node that overhangs the caudal cylinder (perpendicular in T. tenuisculptus ) and the faintly areolate first gastral tergite (strongly areolate in T. casanovai sp. nov.).

Figures

Figure 101 Geographical and elevational distribution of the augusti group. (A) Temnothorax augusti (B) T. aureus sp. nov. (C) T. leucacanthoides sp. nov. (D) T. leucacanthus. Colored scale to the left of each map represents elevation in meters. Points in black represent the species named in each subfigure, while points in red represent other members of the species group. Type localities are represented by triangles, non-type localities are represented by circles. Bounding box in inset map shows location of main map. Full-size DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11514/fig-101