Strumigenys pariensis

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - This species inhabits wet forest leaf litter. Lattke and Goitia (1997) discovered the species in 800m elevation cloud forest on the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela. They speculated that the species might be endemic to this cloud forest area, but its occurrence in mid-elevation wet forest sites in Costa Rica shows that it is more widespread than thought. Like so many leaf litter arthropods, its rarity may be due more to undersampling than to narrow endemism.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys elongata-group. It is the strange gastral pilosity that isolates this species from the closely related Strumigenys elongata. The hairs can casually be described as flagellate, but they are different from the slender wavy flagellate hairs seen in elongata.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Apical fork of mandible with no intercalary teeth; mandible with no preapical teeth; postpetiole small, its dorsum densely punctulate and opaque; setae on gaster flagelliform, bent, but relatively short and stout compared to Strumigenys elongata; propodeal spines relatively larger than elongata.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 *  pariensis. Strumigenys pariensis Lattke & Goitía, 1997: 388, figs. 28, 39, 45 (w.) VENEZUELA. See also: Bolton, 2000: 511.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 2.5-2.6, HL 0.66-0.70, HW 0.50-0.54, CI 75-78, ML 0.40-0.42, MI 58-62, SL 0.46-0.50, SI 89-94, PW 0.29-0.31, AL 0.62-0.64 (4 measured). As elongata but mesonotal standing hairs stout basally and with a narrower hooked or subflagellate apical portion that is apparently easily detached. Disc of postpetiole usually, but not always, has a mediodorsal longitudinal strip that is more weakly punctate than the densely reticulate-punctate remainder of disc. First gastral tergite with curved thick flagellate hairs that often appear ribbon-like in the median portion of their length. Each hair is slender basally, then becomes thick or ribbon-like for much of its length; distal of this the hair tapers to a much more slender apical section that is hooked or strongly recurved and is apparently easily broken off.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Holotype and paratype workers, VENEZUELA: Edo. Sucre, Peninsula de Paria, Las Melenas, 7.9 km. NW Irapa, 10°41'N, 62°37'W, 800 m., 10.v.1993 (J. Lattke) [examined].