Eurhopalothrix spectabilis

Identification
This is a highly distinctive species. The clypeus is smooth, highly polished and glassy; the face is uniformly punctate but with the same highly polished integument; the basal lobes of the scape are very strongly developed; the ventral surface of the head has a pair of longitudinal carinae, particularly prominent in the queen; the face, dorsal mesosoma, petiole, postpetiole, and first gastral tergite are completely devoid of specialized setae and ground pilosity is similarly obsolete; the propodeal spines are acute but still subtended by a broad foliaceous crest; and the posterior margin of the petiolar node is strongly carinate. The holotype dealate queen was collected in a Berlese sample from Santa Catarina State. Subsequently Kempf described the worker from several series collected by K. Lenko in Barueri, São Paulo. These were from "sifted nest material of Camponotus rufipes (F.)," from three different nests. A worker from Paraguay is imaged on AntWeb.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil.

Nomenclature

 *  spectabilis. Eurhopalothrix spectabilis Kempf, 1962b: 27, figs. 25-27 (q.) BRAZIL. Kempf, 1968b: 398 (w.).

Additional References

 * Longino, J.T. 2013. A review of the Central American and Caribbean species of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix Brown and Kempf, 1961 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with a key to New World species. Zootaxa 3693, 101–151.