Eciton dulcium crassinode

Eciton dulcium crassinode
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dorylinae
Genus:	Eciton
Species:	E. dulcium
Subspecies:	E. dulcium crassinode
Trinomial name
	Eciton dulcium crassinode; Borgmeier, 1955

Identification

Jack Longino:

Minor worker: head and mesosoma dark red brown, metasoma contrasting orange brown; occipital tooth absent; petiolar teeth long, tapered, and sharp, not in the form of flanges; petiole with anterodorsal elevated flange; fourth abdominal tergite with abundant long pubescence beneath erect setae.

Major worker: face densely micropunctate, matte; long sickle-shaped mandibles simple, without tooth on inner margin; petiole lacking anterodorsal flange; other characters as in minor.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.42276° to 9.266667°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

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

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.

Biology

Jack Longino: This appears to be one of the less common species of Eciton in Costa Rica. I know it from a couple of collections from the Osa Peninsula, and more recently a collection from La Selva Biological Station. This latter observation was a lesson in humility. With 15 years of ant survey work at La Selva, including multiple student projects in which teams of undergraduates searched the La Selva trails for army ants (including nocturnal surveys) I was sure there were only five species of Eciton at La Selva and E. d. crassinode did not occur there. Mike Kaspari emailed me a query, with images of specimens a student of his had collected at La Selva in 2003, and they looked like crassinode. I was surprised and wondered if it was possibly a labelling error. I had my doubts about Mike's record until a visit to La Selva in April 2006, when a nocturnal walk yielded a column of crassinode! Mike actually had two records from 2003, one at LOC1410 at 1043hrs, and one at LOC850 at 1700hrs. My record was at CES450 at 2100hrs.

Association with Other Organisms

Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora bruchi (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora collegiana (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora pilosula (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitoptera concomitans (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitoptera subciliata (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Puliciphora borinquenensis (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Puliciphora sp. (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Thalloptera schwarzmaieri (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Thalloptera sp. (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
This species is a prey for the phorid fly Dohrniphora ecitophila (a predator) (Quevillon, 2018).

Castes

The following images are provided by Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology
Male
Male
Male
Queen
Queen
Queen
Queen

Nomenclature

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

crassinode. Eciton dulcius subsp. crassinode Borgmeier, 1955: 209 (s.q.) PANAMA (Barro Colorado I.).
- Type-material: holotype queen, 2 paratype workers.
- Type-locality: holotype Panama: Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island, 4.iii.1955 (T.C. Schneirla); paratypes with same data.
- Type-depositories: AMNH (holotype); MZSP (paratypes).
- Subspecies of dulcium: Borgmeier, 1958: 204; Kempf, 1972a: 102; Bolton, 1995b: 184.
- Distribution: Panama.

Description

References

Borgmeier, T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Stud. Entomol. 3: 1-720 (page 209, soldier, queen d*Brückner, A., Hoenle, P.O., von Beeren, C. 2018. Comparative chemical analysis of army ant mandibular gland volatiles (Formicidae: Dorylinae). PeerJ 6, e5319 (doi:10.7717/peerj.5319).

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