Mesostruma

These uncommon ants form small colonies in soil, usually under or between rocks. They are predacious, foraging primarily on the ground in leaf litter but also occasionally on low vegetation.

Identification
The antennae are 6 segmented (including the scape). The sides of the petiole are rounded while the sides of the postpetiole are either armed with thin, wing-like flanges (best viewed from above) or are rounded.

Workers of Mesostruma are most similar to workers of Colobostruma. They differ in that Mesostruma has wing-like flanges (when present) only on the postpetiole while flanges are present on both the petiole and postpetiole in Colobostruma.

Nomenclature

 *  MESOSTRUMA [Myrmicinae: Dacetini]
 * Mesostruma Brown, 1948e: 118. Type-species: Strumigenys (Epopostruma) turneri, by original designation.
 * Mesostruma junior synonym of Colobostruma: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 1994: 15; Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 94.
 * Mesostruma revived status as genus: Bolton, 1995b: 35; Bolton, 1999: 1680; Shattuck, 2000: 47.