Blepharidatta brasiliensis

Little is known about the biology of .

Identification
Kempf (1967) - Following are the characters that distinguish Blepharidatta conops from Blepharidatta brasiliensis: larger size; darker color; pilosity more abundant with hairs present also on ventral surface of petiole and postpetiole; clypeus with a pair of prominent tubercle; vertex with a broad sagittal furrow flanked by a pair of low and diverging ridges; occiput separated from vertex by a carina; dorsum of head lacking longitudinal rugae; occipital corners broadly and obliquely truncate and bidentate; eyes strikingly conical; antero-inferior corner of pronotum bidentate; epinotal spines relatively shorter, less approximated at base and less diverging at apex; infraspinal lamella with an upper spine and a median lobe; petiole rather cylindrical than clavate without a differentiated node; gaster entirely covered with microsculpture, never partly smooth and shining. According to Wheeler (1915: 485) brasiliensis has only 4 teeth on chewing border of mandibles. But according to my observation, both brasiliensis and conops have 5 mandibular teeth.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 *  brasiliensis. Blepharidatta brasiliensis Wheeler, W.M. 1915e: 484, fig. 1 (w.) BRAZIL. Kempf, 1975c: 369 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1991a: 134 (l.).

Worker
Length nearly 2 mm.

Head nearly 1/3 longer than broad, narrower in front than behind, with strongly and broadly excised and marginate posterior border and nearly straight lateral borders, its dorsal and gular surfaces feebly convex, its posterior corners produced as prominent angular tubercles. Scrobes of nearly uniform transverse diameter throughout their length and sufficiently deep to accommodate the antennae. Frontal carinae expanded and lobular anteriorly, with translucent and slightly reflected borders throughout their length. Mandibles rather large, with moderately convex external borders, the apical borders rather oblique, with four subequal teeth. Clypeus with evenly rounded, entire anterior border, Battened in the middle between the two prominent longitudinal carinae and transversely impressed at the anterior border. Frontal area semicircular. Antennae slender, scapes reaching nearly to the posterior corners of the head, their apical halves distinctly thickened; first funicular joint large, fully twice as long as broad; joints 2-7 narrower, a little broader than long, joints as long as broad; joint 9, the basal joint of the clava, longer than broad and twice as broad as the preceding joints; terminal joint large, pointed, nearly three times as long as broad. Thorax narrower than the head, more than twice as long as broad, broadest through the humeri, in profile more than twice as long as high, feebly and evenly convex above. Pronotum with acute, dentate anterior corners, from which there run a pair of distinct longitudinal ridges, gradually converging posteriorly to the epinotal spines. Each of these ridges bears two minute teeth. Epinotum sloping, concave in the middle,. marginate on the sides below the spines, which are long, straight, acute, close together at their insertions and directed backward, outward and upward. Metasternal angles thin, translucent, broad and sharply angular above. Petiole fully three times as long as broad or high, with a short distinct peduncle in front and constricted behind the node, which is evenly and feebly convex above; seen from above the segment is broadest at its posterior margin. Postpetiole a little broader than the petiole but scarcely higher, from above rectangular, a little broader than long, in profile feebly convex above. Gaster subcircular from above, with straight basal margin.

Gaster smooth and shining; remainder of the body, including the appendages opaque, very finely and densely punctate-rugulose. Head above between the frontal carinae with six coarse, longitudinal rugae connected by sparse, indistinct transverse rugules or reticulations. Pronotum above with four feeble longitudinal rugae. Pleurae very indistinctly and irregularly rugose. Petiole and antennal scapes indistinctly longitudinally rugulose. Postpetiole and legs very finely and densely punctate. Gaster very finely and indistinctly shagreened, at the base above densely punctate and opaque.

Hairs yellowish; those on the upper surface of the body very long, slightly curved, of uniform thickness and blunt, arranged very regularly in pairs. On the head nearly all of them arise from the edges of the frontal carinae where the insertion of each hair is a minute tubercle; on the thorax the hairs are inserted along the ridges connecting the humeral angles with the epinotal spines. The petiole bears three, the postpetiole two pairs of these peculiar pairs. On the gaster there are four regular equidistant rows, with about six hairs in each row. Each fore coxa hears a single long hair and there is a pair of hairs on the gula. Legs, antennae, alid terminal gastric segments with numerous, short, appressed pointed hairs and the dorsal surface of the gaster also with a few scattered reclinate hairs.

Color ferruginous; antennae, legs, tip and sides of gaster somewhat paler arid more yellowish.

Male
Kempf (1967) - Total length 3.2 mm; head length 0.64-0.67 mm; head width behind eyes 0.47-0.49 mm; scape length 0.17-0.19 mm; maximum diameter of eyes 0.31-0.32 mm; Weber's length of thorax 0.85-0.87 mm; hind femur length 0.79-0.81 mm; hind tibia length 0.47-0.49 mm; fore wing length 2.8-2.9 mm; hind wing length 2.2-2.3 mm. Ferruginous; mandibles, clypeus, antennae, legs, and often disc of tergum I of gaster lighter, yellowish brown. Integument densely reticulate-punctate, dull; this sculpture becomes superficial to vestigial on antennal funiculi, legs and dorsal disc of postpetiole which are rather shining; gaster entirely smooth, highly polished and shining. Standing hairs longer than scape, scattered on mandibles, head, sides of pronotum, mesonotal scutum and scutellum and apical half of gaster; fine appressed pubescence on antennae and legs. Apex of fore wing and posterior border of hind wing with long, dense fringing hairs.

Note: This is probably the male of brasiliensis, already known in the worker caste from Para and Amazonas State in Brazil and from Cordoba in the Argentine.