Megalomyrmex cyendyra

Some type specimens were collected from mountain forests.

Identification
Brandão (1990) - Megalomyrmex cyendyra shares with Megalomyrmex glaesarius the striate mandibles, but can be distinguished from this species and all other Megalomyrmer by the 4-segmented antennal club and from members of this group by the continuous dorsal profile of the promesonotum.

Brandão (2003) - Workers of M. cyendyra sometimes have the propodeal declivity mostly smooth, with very faint rugosities over the foramen, and the epipetiolar carina incomplete. The main diagnostic characters that separate this species from all other Megalomyrmex of the Leoninus group is the number of club segments (4-5) and the continuous promesonotum.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Ecuador.

Biology
Brandão (2003) - I studied three Colombian samples belonging to the IHVL collection collected in Reserva Nacional La Planada, Nariño province: two workers collected at 1800 m “interior bosque” (01°17’N, 78°15’W), one collected by F. Escobar and the other by C. Estrada; two with the same locality data collected from February to July, 1993, by C. Estrada; and two workers collected in the Parcela Olga by G. Oliva, in July 16 to 20, 2000, at 1850 m (01°15’N, 78°15’W).

Jones et al. (1999) studied the venom alkaloids of M. cyendyra workers collected in July, 1997 in Borrero Ayerbe, Municipio de Dagua-Corregimiento, Departamiento del Valle, Colombia.

Nomenclature

 *  cyendyra. Megalomyrmex cyendyra Brandão, 1990: 433, figs. 44, 54 (w.) COLOMBIA.

Worker
Mandibles faintly striate: anterior clypeal bor­der straight without denticle: frontal suture im­ pressed: 21 ocular facets at compound eye larg­est diameter: (4-5) segmented antenna! club: oc­cipital margin not raised; promesonotal suture impressed only laterally, promesonotal profile continuous; mesostemum and metastemum with­ out acrotergites: dorsal face of propodeum indis­tinct from declivity; declivity striate: epipetiolar carina complete; non-pedunculate petiole with dorsal margin straight in side view: dorsal mar­gin of petiolar node round in frontal view; petio­lar spiracles laterally produced: ventral face of petiole without denticles. but with a longitudinal non-translucid flange that attains the spiracles region; ventral process of postpetiole globose: apex of postpetiole acuminate; genual plates round.

Type Material
Rio San Juan del Digua, ca. Queremal, 1300m, Valle del Cauca, Colombia (03°31'N, 76°43'W) holotype and 5 paratypes); Farallones de Cali Park, El Topazio. ca. Pance, 1550m, Valle del Cauca, Colombia (03°20'N, 76°43'W) (4 paratypes); Pance, munic. Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, l700m (same coordinates of El Topazio). Holotype and 2 paratypes from Queremal, 2 paratypes from Pance at Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard; 3 paratypes from Queremal, 2 from Pance and 2 from El Topazio at Museu de Zoologia da USP; 2 paratypes from El Topazio at Facultad de Agronomia de Maracay, Venezuela. The samples from Pance and Queremal have been collected respectively by W.L. Brown Jr. & Chaplin in June, 16, 1971 (“mountain rain forest”) and W.L. Brown Jr. in July. 28, 1973 (“mountain forest”). The types from El Topazio have been collected by J. Lattke (accession number 2150) at December. 31. 1981. The Maracay collection houses 21 more workers of this series.

Etymology
The composed name cyendyra means mother-sister in Tupi language, regarding the gamergate found with the Queremal sample.