Strumigenys warditeras

Identification
The only member of the Strumigenys warditeras-group.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Mandibles in full-face view sublinear, elongate and narrow; at full closure engaging only at apex; ventral surface of petiole with a strip or curtain of spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape without freely projecting broadly spatulate or spoon-shaped hairs.

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

Nomenclature

 *  warditeras. Pyramica warditeras Bolton, 2000: 246, figs. 165, 189 (w.) COSTA RICA. Combination in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 130

Worker
Holotype. TL 2.2, HL 0.52, HW 0.40, CI 77, ML 0.18, MI 35, SL 0.24, SI 60, PW 0.26, AL 0.56. Cephalic dorsum smooth except for minute pits from which tiny appressed hairs arise. Eyes small, with only 4 ommatidia in total. Side of head in front of eye finely reticulate-punctate, behind eye smooth and as the dorsum. Ventral surface of head finely reticulate-punctate anteriorly, smooth behind the level of the eye. Sides and dorsum of alitrunk, and dorsal surfaces of waist segments, entirely smooth. Basigastral costulae long and fine, spaces between costulae finely densely striolate so that basal half of first gastral tergite appears densely longitudinally sculptured. Propodeal teeth in profile appear to arise low down on the side because the posterior portion of the dorsum is abruptly angled downward. Ventral curtain of petiole densely spongiform, about as deep as petiole peduncle. Lateral spongiforryl lobe of petiole small but conspicuous. Petiole node broader than long in dorsal view. Anterior face of postpetiole disc broadly concave in dorsal view, its sides strongly convergent posteriorly so that the outline is a broadly open flattened U-shape. Lateral and anterior margins of postpetiole disc fringed throughout with spongiform tissue in dorsal view, broader behind than in front as the lateral outlines of the spongiform material remain approximately parallel whilst the margins of the disc converge posteriorly. In profile the basal spongiform pad on the first gastral sternite is more extensive than the combined size of the postpetiolar spongiform lobes.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Costa Rica: Provo Limon, 3 km. SSE Cahuita, 70 m., 9°43'N, 82°50'W, 24.xii.1983, #6530-10, sifted litter (leaf mold, rotten wood) rainforest (P. S. Ward).