Strumigenys godmani

Most specimens have been made in forest and forest edge habitats. Collections details are quite varied: litter, under bark, in rotten wood, under an epiphyte and on a sidewalk. Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Workers of godmani are dramatically large for a Strumigenys. Individual workers may be found day or night on rainforest floor, on rotten wood, and under loose bark. I have never observed this species in Winkler samples, including samples from the same locations where individual workers are collected by visual search. This could be due to their somehow being undersampled by litter sifting, or, more likely, they are actually at much lower density than most Strumigenys species, but their large size makes them oversampled by visual search. Brown (1962) found a nest in Panama in a small rotten log in cloud forest.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the mandibularis complex in the Strumigenys mandibularis-group. Within the mandibularis-complex the two species godmani and Strumigenys mandibularis form a close pair, characterised by large size (HW 1.02-1.24) coupled with short powerful mandibles (MI 40-48) that have strongly bowed outer margins. The two are easily separable as in godmani the first gastral tergite is smooth and the postpetiole disc is longer than broad, whilst in mandibularis the first gastral tergite is finely and very densely longitudinally striolate and the postpetiole disc is broader than long.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Apical fork of mandible with a single intercalary tooth; mandible with 2 well-developed preapical teeth; large species with massive head and short, heavy mandibles.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 *  godmani. Strumigenys godmani Forel, 1899c: 42, pl. 3, fig. 5 (q.) PANAMA. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1960b: 26 (l.). Senior synonym of ferox: Brown, 1953d: 55. See also: Bolton, 2000: 534.
 * ferox. Strumigenys (Strumigenys) ferox Weber, 1934a: 41, fig. 4 (w.) GUYANA. Junior synonym of godmani: Brown, 1953d: 55.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 4.5-5.5, HL 1.12-1.30, HW 1.02-1.24, CI 88-95, ML 0.48-0.60, MI 41-48, SL 0.72-0.92, SI 71-78, PW 0.56-0.66, AL 1.10-1.42 (12 measured).

Characters of mandibularis-complex. Mandibles short and stout, broad and powerful, the outer margins strongly bowed outwards. Proximal preapical tooth at or just proximal of the mandibular midlength. Declivity of propodeum in profile with a tooth or spine above and a triangular lobe or tooth below, the two linked by a lamella. Disc of postpetiole swollen, disproportionately large; maximum length of disc 0.45-0.50, maximum width 0.36-0.45, so that the disc is about 1.25 X longer than broad. All dorsal surfaces of head, alitrunk, petiole and postpetiole densely sharply reticulate-punctate. First gastral tergite glassy smooth behind the minute to vestigial basigastral costulae; the latter usually no longer than width of the spongiform limbus. Dorsal surfaces of waist segments with stout simple hairs that are curved posteriorly and acute apically. First gastral tergite either entirely lacking standing hairs or with a few fine hairs on the basal third.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Holotype queen, PANAMA: Volcan de Chiriqui (Champion) [examined].