Strumigenys paniaguae

This species occurs in a restricted elevational band, from 500 m to 1500 m on the Barva transect in Braulio Carrillo National Park. It is arboreal, nesting under epiphytes. A colony was discovered during a 2001 Project ALAS expedition to the 1100 m site, an area of continuous cloud forest. A populous nest was under an epiphyte mat in a recent treefall. I found workers and brood, but no sexuals. Subsequently workers were obtained in Project ALAS Berlese samples of epiphytic material from the same and two other sites on the Barva Transect. (Longino 2006)

Identification
Longino (2006) - Intensive collecting at La Selva Biological Station and the Barva Transect has revealed a complex of five closely similar but consistently separable species related to Strumigenys subedentata. Strumigenys subedentata occurs throughout the Neotropics, usually in lowland wet to somewhat seasonal sites, in both mature and second growth forests. It is often collected in samples of litter and rotten wood from the forest floor. Strumigenys trieces occurs on the Atlantic slope of Central America from Nicaragua to Panama, from sea level to 1100 m elevation. It occurs most abundantly in mature wet forest where, like S. subedentata, it inhabits leaf litter and rotten wood on the forest floor. The three new species described here – Strumigenys oconitrilloae, Strumigenys cascanteae, and Strumigenys paniaguae – occur as a graded series of elevational specialists, with S. oconitrilloae occurring at La Selva and the 300 m site on the Barva Transect, S. cascanteae occurring at the 300 m site and at a 600 m site in the nearby Arenal National Park, and S. paniaguae occurring at the 500 m, 1100 m, and 1500 m sites on the Barva Transect. These three all show a tendency to be arboreal, nesting under bark flaps or epiphytes and rarely occurring in samples of litter and rotten wood from the forest floor. A sixth species in this complex, Strumigenys connectens (Kempf, 1958), occurs in Colombia and Ecuador.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Mandibles in full-face view linear, elongate and narrow; ventral surface of petiole without spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape with freely projecting hairs; inner margin of mandible without a tooth or distinctly enlarged denticle at or near the midlength; labral lobes short, trigger hairs at apices of lobes long; outer margins of mandibles relatively straight; mandibles short and thick, with inner margin convex; mandible with exactly 2 small preapical teeth and no denticles; ground pilosity of head abundant and conspicuous; erect setae on gaster remiform; katepisternum and part of side of propodeum smooth and shining. Similar to: Strumigenys subedentata, Strumigenys cascanteae, Strumigenys oconitrilloae, Strumigenys gundlachi, Strumigenys eggersi and Strumigenys trieces.

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

Nomenclature

 *  paniaguae. Pyramica paniaguae Longino, 2006b: 137, figs. 13-15, 19 (w.) COSTA RICA. Combination in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 125

Worker
Holotype: ML 0.418, HL 0.733, HW 0.612, SL 0.332, MeL 0.710.

With the characters of the gundlachi group, sensu Bolton (2000); inner margin of mandible evenly convex for nearly entire length; preapical mandibular dentition consisting of two well-defined small teeth proximal to apicodorsal tooth, second (basalmost) tooth larger than first, second tooth sometimes followed by minute denticle; eye with about 15 ommatidia; basalmost projecting seta on leading edge of scape curved away from base, remaining setae broadly fan-shaped and projecting forward; ground pilosity of clypeus, face, and promesonotum abundant, remiform, subdecumbent; dorsal face of propodeum and gastral dorsum lacking ground pilosity; most of mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole feebly punctate, mesopleuron and part of side of propodeum smooth and shiny; metanotal groove broadly and shallowly impressed, such that promesonotum and dorsal face of propodeum form two separate convexities; gastral dorsum smooth and shiny with short, sparse basal costulae; pairs of stout clavate setae on sides of head at upper scrobe margin, upper face near vertex margin, pronotal humeri, mesonotum, and petiolar node; postpetiole and gaster with abundant stout clavate setae; color orange.

Type Material
Holotype worker: Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 16 km SSE La Virgen (10° 16' N, 84° 05' W), 1100 m elevation, 11.II.2001, leg. J. Longino#4375, specimen code JTLC000 008506. Paratypes: 11 workers, same data as holotype, specimen code JTLC000008505, JTLC000008507 , JTLC000008508 , JTLC000008509 , JTLC000008510 , JTLC000008511, LACM ENT 144683 , JTLC000008512 , JTLC000008513, JTLC000008514, LACM ENT 144684 ; 1 worker, same data as holotype but 14.II.2001, leg. Project ALAS 11/B/BE/029, INB0003212274 (JTLC); 2 workers, Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 11 km SE La Virgen (10° 20' N, 84° 04' W), 500 m elevation, 17.II.2003, leg. Project ALAS 05/B/BV/017, INB0003604821, INB0 003604822 (INBC); 1 worker, Costa Rica: Heredia Prov., 10 km NE Vara Blanca (10° 14' N, 84° 05' W), 1500 m elevation, 14.III.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BE/052, INB0003662486 (INBC); 1 worker, same data but 20.III. 2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BE/068, INB0003662711 (INBC); 1 worker, same data but 8.II.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BV/001, INB0003662491 (INBC); 1 worker, same data but 14.II.2005, leg. Project ALAS 15/B/BV/014, INB0003662502 (INBC).

Etymology
Named for Maylin Paniagua G., Project ALAS Parataxonomist from 1994 to 2005.