Thaumatomyrmex

Longino Ants of Costa Rica - The Neotropical ant genus Thaumatomyrmex is a myrmecologist's delight, being highly distinctive and rare. The mandibles are like pitch-forks, each mandible composed of three long tines joined at the base. Thaumatomyrmex workers are rarely encountered, and only a handful of specimens exist in the world's museums. They are most often collected as isolated workers in samples of leaf litter from the forest floor, extracted using Berlese funnels or Winkler sacks. Brandao et al. (1991) discovered that Thaumatomyrmex contumax and atrox in southern Brazil is a specialist predator on millipedes in the order Polyxenida. Polyxenid millipedes are covered with detachable barbed setae which entangle potential predators. The Thaumatomyrmex workers used their long, specialized mandibles to capture polyxenids and subsequently strip them of their setae

Species richness
Species richness by country based on regional taxon lists (countries with darker colours are more species-rich). View Data



Nomenclature

 *  THAUMATOMYRMEX [Ponerinae: Thaumatomyrmecini]
 * Thaumatomyrmex Mayr, 1887: 530. Type-species: Thaumatomyrmex mutilatus, by monotypy.