Rasopone panamensis (Forel) Longino, John T. & Branstetter, Michael G., 2020

Longino, John T. & Branstetter, Michael G., 2020, Phylogenomic Species Delimitation, Taxonomy, and ‘ Bird Guide’ Identification for the Neotropical Ant Genus Rasopone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Insect Systematics and Diversity 4 (2), No. 1, pp. 1-33 : 25

Rasopone panamensis (Forel) New Status

( Fig. 10; Supp Figs. S24 and S25 [online only])

Ponera ferruginea var. panamensis Forel, 1899: 15 .

Neotype worker: Costa Rica, San José: Cerro Plano, 9.48059 −83.96402 ± 10 m, 1,060 m, 4-vii-2015, ridgetop cloud forest, isolated peak with oak trees, ex sifted leaf litter, ADMAC, Wa-E-06-1-45 [CAS, unique specimen identifier CASENT0644252 ].

Euponera (Mesoponera) ferruginea var.? panamensis: Emery, 1911: 82 .

Trachymesopus ferrugineus var. panamensis: Kempf, 1972: 251 .

Pachycondyla ferruginea panamensis: Brown , in Bolton, 1995: 308.

Pachycondyla ferruginea: MacKay and MacKay, 2010: 319 (incorrect synonymy).

Pachycondyla lunaris: MacKay and MacKay, 2010: 445 (description of queen, misidentification).

Geographic range. Costa Rica, Panama.

Diagnosis

Lowland; mandible striate; anterior clypeal margin truncate; side of head bare; petiolar node cuboidal. One species is within geographic and size range of R. panamensis :

Rasopone costaricensis ( Fig. 9; Supp Figs. S3 and S 4 [online only]): montane; petiole more scale-like.

Measurements, worker: HW 1.23 (1.12–1.36, 6); HL 1.40 (1.31– 1.54, 6); SL 1.05 (0.94–1.15, 5); PTH 0.95 (0.87–1.06, 6); PTL 0.54 (0.48–0.61, 6); CI 88 (86–89, 6); SI 84 (82–85, 5); PTI 58 (55–60, 6).

Measurements, queen: HW 1.16 (1.13–1.18, 2); HL 1.32 (1.30– 1.34, 2); SL 0.97 (0.94–1.01, 2); PTH 0.88; PTL 0.46; CI 88 (87–88, 2); SI 84 (83–85, 2); PTI 52.

Biology

This species occurs in lowland wet to seasonal dry forest habitat, with records from sea level to 1,070 m elevation. Nearly all specimens are workers and occasional dealate queens from Winkler samples of forest floor litter and rotten wood.

Comments

This is a lowland species known from both coasts of Costa Rica. On the Pacific coast, it occurs from Cabo Blanco on the Nicoya Peninsula to the Osa, where it is the common species in litter samples. On the Caribbean side, it is the common species in litter at Hitoy Cerere, south of Limón, but is unknown north of there, in spite of intensive sampling at La Selva Biological Station and the Barva transect.

The original type of R. panamensis is missing. Longino searched for it during a visit to MHNG in 1990, Mackay and Mackay (2010) reported it missing, and Fisher did not find it when imaging MHNG types in 2013. The queen is described as being 6.5 mm long, the mandible with an oblique sulcus, and the petiolar node concave posteriorly but as thick at the top as at the base (‘mais aussi épaisse en haut qu’en bas’). These characters match the relatively common lowland species found in the southern Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica, near the originally published type locality (Bugaba, Panama).