Odontomachus erythrocephalus

This species is common and, with its bright red head, conspicuous in the Atlantic lowland rainforests of Costa Rica. It inhabits mature forest, foraging on the ground and low vegetation, and nesting in rotten wood on the ground or rotten stumps. In one case I was collecting at the edge of an old lava field on Volcan Arenal, an area of boulders and open sand, with very little vegetation. A populous colony was under a stone in a narrow strip of grass. (Longino/Ants of Costa Rica)

Identification
A member of the Odontomachus haematodus group.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama.

Nomenclature

 * . Odontomachus haematodes r. erythrocephalus Emery, 1890b: 44 (w.) COSTA RICA.
 * Type-material: holotype(?) worker.
 * [Note: no indication of number of specimens is given.]
 * Type-locality: Costa Rica: Jiménez, 1889 (A. Alfaro).
 * Type-depository: MSNG.
 * [Also described as new by Emery, 1894k: 50.]
 * Forel, 1914e: 9 (q.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1952c: 650 (l.).
 * Subspecies of haematodus: Emery, in Dalla Torre, 1893: 50 (footnote); Forel, 1899c: 21; Forel, 1907e: 1; Emery, 1911d: 115; Forel, 1914e: 9.
 * Status as species: Dalla Torre, 1893: 50; Kempf, 1972a: 7, 170; Brown, 1976a: 103, 144; Brandão, 1991: 363; Bolton, 1995b: 295; Rodriguez, J. 2008: 162; Guénard & Economo, 2015: 228; Fernández & Guerrero, 2019: 539.
 * Distribution: Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Amat-G G., M. G. Andrade-C. and F. Fernández. (eds.) 1999. Insectos de Colombia. Volumen II. Bogotá: Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 433 pp. 131975
 * Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1976. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. Part VI. Ponerinae, tribe Ponerini, subtribe Odontomachiti. Section A. Introduction, subtribal characters. Genus Odontomachus. Stud. Entomol. 19: 67-171.
 * Bustos H., J. 1994. Contribucion al conocimiento de al fauna de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del occidente del Departamento de Narino (Colombia). Bol. Mus. Ent. Univ. Valle 2(1,2):19-30
 * CSIRO Collection
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Fernandes, P.R. XXXX. Los hormigas del suelo en Mexico: Diversidad, distribucion e importancia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
 * Fernández F. 2008. Subfamilia Ponerinae s.str. Pp. 123-218 in: Jiménez, E.; Fernández, F.; Arias, T.M.; Lozano-Zambrano F. H. (eds.) 2008. Sistemática, biogeografía y conservación de las hormigas cazadoras de Colombia. Bogotá: Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, xiv + 609 pp.
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Mirmecofauna de la reserva ecologica de San Felipe Bacalar
 * Navarro, E.V. Vergara, H. Echavarria Sanchez, F.J. Serna Cardona. 2007. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) asociadas al arboretum de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellin. Boletín Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 40:497-505.
 * Ramirez M., J. Herrera, and I. Armbrecht. 2010. ¿Bajan de los árboles las hormigas que depredan en potreros y cafetales colombianos? Revista Colombiana de Entomología 36 (1): 106-115.
 * Rodriguez-Garza J. A., and C. Pozo-de la Tijera. 1993. Nuevos registros de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para Mexico. Revista de Biologia Tropical 41(3b): 916-917.
 * Ulloa Chacon P., M. L. Baena, J. Bustos, R. C. Aldana, J. A. Aldana, and M. A. Gamboa. 1996. Fauna de hormigas del departamento del Valle del Cauca (Colombia). Pp. 413-451. In Andrade-C M. G., G. Amat Garcia, and F. Fernandez. Insectoss de Colombia, estudios escogidos.
 * Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133