Strumigenys platyscapa

Occurs in wet forest habitat, in leaf litter on the forest floor (Longino, Ants of Costa Rica).

Identification
The only member of the Strumigenys platyscapa-group.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Face strongly flattened, margined laterally, and concave on vertex lobes; apical fork of mandible with one intercalary tooth; mandible with one preapical tooth near apical fork; gaster with strongly spatulate setae.

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

Nomenclature

 *  platyscapa. Strumigenys platyscapa Bolton, 2000: 545, figs. 322, 346 (w.) COSTA RICA.

Worker
Holotype. TL 3.2, HL 0.82, HW 0.78, CI 95, ML 0.50, MI 61, SL 0.50, SI 64, PW 0.38, AL 0.76. Intercalary tooth of apical fork slightly longer and stouter than the small preapical tooth. Inner margin of mandible slightly broadened proximal of preapical tooth, the broadened section smooth and with a shallowly convex margin. Anterior clypeal margin broadly and shallowly convex. Upper scrobe margin sharply defined. Eye circular in profile, with about 5 ommatidia in the longest row, its maximum diameter distictly less than the maximum width of the scape. Dorsal surfaces of occipital lobes shallowly concave; middle of vertex, between the concavities, shallowly convex. Side of head behind eye rounding broadly and evenly into ventral surface, without a demarcated ventrolateral margin. Pleurae each with a smooth area. Propodeal spines narrow, in profile much longer than the basal width. Peduncle of petiole long, with an extremely narrow ventral strip that is scarcely spongiform. In dorsal view petiole node broader than long, weakly reticulate-punctate and with a distinct spongiform posterior collar. Disc of postpetiole almost entirely smooth, with scattered minute punctulae. Basigastral costulae extremely short sparse and feeble. First gastral tergite glassy smooth with very widely spaced minute punctulae.

Paratypes. TL 2.9-3.2, HL 0.72-0.85, HW 0.69-0.78, CI 90-98, ML 0.44-0.50, MI 58-64, SL 0.45-0.50, SI 61-67, PW 0.32-0.38, AL 0.67-0.78 (7 measured). As holotype but in some paratypes the metapleuron almost or completely reticulate-punctate. Ventral strip of petiole varies from very narrow and scarcely spongiform to vestigial and incomplete; may be a mere broken carina.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Costa Rica: Provo Alajuela, Rio Penas Blaneas, 10°19'N, 84°43'W, 800 m., 26-28.iv.1987, wet forest, ex sifted leaf litter, #1578-S (J. Longino).

Paratypes. Costa Rica: 4 workers with same data as holotype; 4 workers, Provo Limon, Res. Biol. Hitoy-Cerere, 9°40'N, 83°02'W, 500 m., 30.viii.1985, wet forest, ex sifted leaf litter, #970-S (J. Longino).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bolton, B. 2000. The Ant Tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/