Attaphila fungicola

There are nine species of myrmecophiles in the genus Attaphila.

Diagnosis

 * Male As in A. paucisetosa with specialisations on T2 (msl2, but these are narrower, with simpler ridges), distinguished by having dispersed surface bristles on T2–5. For differences to A. flava, see 4.3.
 * Female: Well characterized by the combined occurrence of two characters: T2–5 with dispersed surface bristles, T6,7 with only few and small surface bristles. The latter feature is also shared by A. paucisetosa, in which, however, the surface bristles of T2–5 are arranged in one line.

Distribution
Colombia, Guyana, Panama, Trinidad, United States (Texas, Louisiana)

Biology
While the Orthoptera, as a rule, are large or medium-sized insects, both Myrmecophila and Attaphila are so far below even the average stature of insects of this order that we must conclude either that they have become reduced in size secondarily in adaptation to their present habitat and companionship, or that they were originally diminutive species, and, for that very reason, better able to enter into symbiotic relationship with the ants. The latter alternative seems to be the more probable

Ant host: Atta texana.