Eurhopalothrix megalops

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Eurhopalothrix megalops
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Eurhopalothrix
Species: E. megalops
Binomial name
Eurhopalothrix megalops
Longino, 2013

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Specimen Labels

This species is known from a single specimen from a pan trap, in mature wet forest at 500 m elevation on the Barva transect in Costa Rica. The larger eyes, longer legs, and fact that it was never sampled in hundreds of Winkler samples from the area suggest that it is a surface forager and perhaps arboreal. (Longino 2013)

Identification

Mandible with single tooth row; face with 16 specialized spatulate setae; angle between anterior and dorsal faces of petiolar node obtuse; eye large, about 9 ommatidia across long axis; legs relatively long, hind tibia length about 0.6 HW. Similar to Eurhopalothrix circumcapillum, Eurhopalothrix ortizae, Eurhopalothrix oscillum, Eurhopalothrix schmidti, Eurhopalothrix semicapillum. (Longino 2013)

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.33333° to 10.33333°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Explore-icon.png Explore Overview of Eurhopalothrix biology 
Little is known about the biology of most species in this genus. Nests are rarely found, and queens and males have not been collected for many species. Longino (2013) summarized their biology "Eurhopalothrix specimens are encountered almost exclusively in samples from mass extraction techniques that recover small arthropods in sifted litter, rotten wood, and soil. Densities, at least in the northern Neotropics, are usually low, with workers occurring in < 10% of quantitative samples of 1 m2 litter plots, but occasionally may reach densities as high as 40% of samples. Live colonies of Old World Eurhopalothrix were observed by Wilson (1956) and Wilson and Brown (1984), and a Costa Rican colony of Basiceros manni was observed by Wilson and Hölldobler (1986). All basicerotines, including Eurhopalothrix, are thought to be predators in tropical leaf litter, relying on stealth or sit-and-wait techniques. Sampled specimens are often coated with a thin layer of clay, especially on the face, which is thought to function as camouflage, enhancing crypsis (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1986). Highly specialized spatulate setae may be instrumental in acquisition and adherence of the clay layer (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1986)."

Castes

Known only from the worker caste.

Nomenclature

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

  • megalops. Eurhopalothrix megalops Longino, 2013: 129, figs. 15A, 24, 36 (w.) 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

HW 0.74, HL 0.75, SL 0.47, SLL 0.04, CI 98, SLI 8 (n=1). Labrum anterolateral gibbosities of basal portion developed as sharply right-angled, ventrally-directed teeth, apical portion elongate, flexed dorsally, relatively narrow, with a minute notch at apex; 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 very weakly developed basal lobe; scrobe deep, sharply delimited dorsally and ventrally, abutting deep antennal socket; surface of scrobe foveolate; eye with about 9 ommatidia across greatest diameter; clypeus approximately planar, uniformly punctate, dull; sides of head above eyes moderately angulate; surface of face uniformly convex, punctate posteriorly, grading to minutely punctulate and matte anteriorly; occipital carina indistinct; undersurface of head uniformly punctate; postgenal suture a well-developed longitudinal trough, darker than surrounding cuticle.

Promesonotal profile evenly convex, meeting flat dorsal face of propodeum at broad obtuse angle; metanotal groove not impressed; dorsal and posterior faces of propodeum distinct, meeting at obtuse angle, dorsal face subequal in length to posterior face; propodeal spine laminar, translucent, elongate triangular, acute, ventral margin rounding into very narrow infradental lamella that extends down posterior face to propodeal lobe; propodeal spiracle small, directed somewhat posteriorly; mesosoma except posterior face of propodeum punctate; posterior face of propodeum minutely punctulate; promesonotum and dorsal face propodeum with large confluent puncta; mesopleuron and side of propodeum with smaller, more widely-spaced, less conspicuous puncta; metapleural gland bulla somewhat inflated, cuticle thin, translucent, nearly smooth; no transverse carinae between bases of propodeal spines.

Petiolar peduncle joins anterior face of petiolar node at rounded obtuse angle; anterior face of node meets sloping dorsal face at rounded obtuse angle; posterior face of node short; ventral margin of petiole with short, anteroventral tooth; postpetiole low and broad, with a very feeble longitudinal sulcus dorsally; first gastral sternite lacking anterior sagittal keel; petiole, postpetiole, first gastral tergite covered with dense, small, confluent puncta; first gastral sternite similar, but puncta slightly larger and with discernible interspaces.

Dorsal surface of scape covered with uniform short, appressed, strongly flattened setae; leading edge of scape with projecting setae, short and strongly curved near apex, becoming longer and less curved toward base, with long straight seta on basal lobe; ground pilosity on clypeus of very sparse, very fine, short, fully appressed setae, inconspicuous; posterior half of face with ground pilosity of dense appressed setae similar to those on dorsal scape, grading to smaller appressed setae on anterior portion of face and onto frontal lobes; undersurface of head with abundant ground setae like those on face; projecting specialized setae spatulate, about twice as long as wide, curved, about twice as large as ground pilosity (and thus not highly differentiated from it), full complement 16, with curved anterior row of 8, transverse median row of 4, and posterior row of 4 on vertex margin; ground setae similar to those on face abundant on promesonotal dorsum, dorsal half of propodeal spines, very dense on dorsa of petiolar node and postpetiole, moderately abundant on first gastral tergite; 1 pair projecting spatulate setae on pronotum, 1 pair on anterior mesonotum; legs with dense, strongly flattened, fully appressed setae on apices of femora, posterior face of foretibia, entire midtibia, anterior face of hindtibia, somewhat sparser on other surfaces; apices of tibiae ringed with larger spatulate setae; basitarsus and remaining tarsomeres with abundant, strongly spatulate setae; 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 3 pairs in two longitudinal rows.

Color orange brown.

Holotype Specimen Labels

Type Material

Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Heredia: 11km SE La Virgen, 10.33333 -84.06667, ± 2km, 500 m, 12–16 Feb 2003, wet forest stream edge, Cascante refuge, pan trap (M. Pollet) California Academy of Sciences, JTLC000003555.

Etymology

The name is in reference to the large eyes. It is a noun in apposition and thus invariant.

References

  • Longino J. 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: 101-151 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3693.2.1).