Strumigenys dietrichi

Relatively well collected in Florida in comparison to the rest of its range. This species is known from a range of forest habitats, having been found in litter samples and in downed wood. (Deyrup et al. 1988). A collection from Puebla includes a few specimens collected in a patch of mesic forest litter along a roadside. Booher (2021) found S. dietrichi is most often associated with extremely wet environments across a wide range of habitats: sloped mid-elevation deeply shaded ravines, marsh-like sunny ditches along roadsides, and in deep moist pockets of litter in upland woodlands. However, collection notes from several Ohio colonies were associated with rotted logs found in ‘dryish’ woods (Wesson & Wesson 1939). In Kansas, a colony was collected in rotted wood in a moist deciduous forest (DuBois 1985). These Kansas specimens had slightly apically expanded bulbous setae extending from the anterior portion of the clypeus; typically, these setae are filiform along their entire length.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys ornata-group. The remarkable clypeal pilosity is immediately diagnostic. Only Strumigenys ornata duplicates this arrangement but in that species the fan of hairs at the dorsal clypeal apex consists of strongly recurved hairs with very strongly swollen, bulbous apices.

Distribution
USA to Mexico; widespread in eastern USA from Florida to Maryland and west to Missouri; in western USA occurs in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. This is another wide-ranging eastern species with a continuous USA distribution from the Florida Keys to Maryland and west to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas (Deyrup 2006). Outside the USA, this species is known from the Mexican state of Puebla. The Puebla collection included a few specimens collected in a patch of mesic forest litter along a roadside. It is likely this species is native in Puebla as there are other ants (Ponera exotica, Cryptopone sp.) and trees (Liquidambar, Acer) that are native in both the southeastern USA and southern Mexico (J. Longino, pers. comm.). (Booher, 2021)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States.

Biology
Wesson and Wesson (1939) - We have taken this ant in Pike, Lawrence, and Adams Counties. On 4 occasions workers were found under the bark of somewhat decayed logs in open, dryish woods. In all of these logs have been colonies of other species of ants, such as Formica integra, Aphaenogaster tennesseensis, Aphaenogaster lamellidens , Aphaenogaster fulva, Proceratium silaceum, Ponera pennsylvanica. One long, decayed, hickory log, covered with a tough layer of bark, was remarkable in containing colonies of at least 11 species of ants, including 5 species of Strumigenys. The S. deitrichi were found in one part of the log. Several workers of S. deitrichi were also found in the loose humus of a cedar grove. In none of these cases did we observe definite indications of an association between S. deitrichi and the other species of ants living near them, such as the presence of deitrichi workers in frequented galleries of the other.

Brown (1964) - Most records are from nest sites in or under the bark of large rotting logs or stumps. Dr. W. G. Carter has, however, recovered foraging workers from several localities in North Carolina in leaf litter of cedar and oak; whether or not they were nesting in wood, we do not know. Two workers come from a rot hole at the base of a turkey oak in Decatur Co., Georgia.

Nomenclature

 *  dietrichi. Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) dietrichi Smith, M.R. 1931c: 696, pl. 2, fig. 6 (w.) U.S.A. Brown, 1953g: 67 (q.). Combination in S. (Trichoscapa): Smith, M.R., 1947f: 587; Creighton, 1950a: 305; in Smithistruma: Smith, M.R., 1951a: 827; Brown, 1953g: 67; in Pyramica: Bolton, 1999: 1673; in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 118. See also: Kennedy & Schramm, 1933: 100; Wilson, 1954: 487; Bolton, 2000: 112.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 1.9-2.2, HL 0.56-0.60, HW 0.36-0.38, CI 62-65, ML 0.07-0.09, MI 13-15, SL 0.28-0.30, SI 78-81, PW 0.24-0.26, AL 0.52-0.59 (18 measured).

Fully closed mandibles with a gap between basal tooth and anterior clypeal margin that is longer than the length of the basal tooth. In full-face view clypeus bluntly pointed apically and pair of hairs closest to apex of point strongly curved away from the midline. Other stout hairs that project beyond outline of lateral clypeal margins sparse and simple, tending to be more or less straight or very weakly curved anteriorly. In anterior view clypeus with an apicodorsal series of 6-8 stout standing long hairs that radiate from the apex like the ribs of a fan, these hairs not strongly bulbous at their apices and in profile not obviously curved posteriorly. In profile clypeal dorsum with a pair of very long wire-like hairs that arise at about the midlength; each of these hairs is inclined posteriorly from just above its base, then curves smoothly upwards so that at least the apical half of the shaft is directed vertically or nearly so (as in ornata, Fig. 166). Posterior to this pair of very specialized hairs the clypeal dorsum with 2-3 pairs of posteriorly curved short hairs that are filiform to very narrowly spatulate. Dorsolateral margin of head with 2 long flagellate hairs, one apicoscrobal, the other anterior to this above the eye; distribution of flagellate hairs otherwise as in cloydi.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Lectotype worker (by designation of Brown, 1953a: 68) and paralectotype workers, U. S.A.: Mississippi, Lucedale (H. Dietrich) [examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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