Strumigenys dietrichi

Relatively well collected in Florida in comparison to the rest of its range, Strumigenys dietrichi extends beyond the southeastern US into Texas, Missouri and Ohio. This species is known from a range of forest habitats, having been found in litter samples and in downed wood.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys ornata-group. The remarkable clypeal pilosity is immediately diagnostic. Only Strumigenys ornata duplicates this arrangement but in that species the fan of hairs at the dorsal clypeal apex consists of strongly recurved hairs with very strongly swollen, bulbous apices.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States.



Nomenclature

 *  dietrichi. Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) dietrichi Smith, M.R. 1931c: 696, pl. 2, fig. 6 (w.) U.S.A. Brown, 1953g: 67 (q.). Combination in S. (Trichoscapa): Smith, M.R., 1947f: 587; Creighton, 1950a: 305; in Smithistruma: Smith, M.R., 1951a: 827; Brown, 1953g: 67; in Pyramica: Bolton, 1999: 1673; in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 118. See also: Kennedy & Schramm, 1933: 100; Wilson, 1954: 487; Bolton, 2000: 112.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 1.9-2.2, HL 0.56-0.60, HW 0.36-0.38, CI 62-65, ML 0.07-0.09, MI 13-15, SL 0.28-0.30, SI 78-81, PW 0.24-0.26, AL 0.52-0.59 (18 measured).

Fully closed mandibles with a gap between basal tooth and anterior clypeal margin that is longer than the length of the basal tooth. In full-face view clypeus bluntly pointed apically and pair of hairs closest to apex of point strongly curved away from the midline. Other stout hairs that project beyond outline of lateral clypeal margins sparse and simple, tending to be more or less straight or very weakly curved anteriorly. In anterior view clypeus with an apicodorsal series of 6-8 stout standing long hairs that radiate from the apex like the ribs of a fan, these hairs not strongly bulbous at their apices and in profile not obviously curved posteriorly. In profile clypeal dorsum with a pair of very long wire-like hairs that arise at about the midlength; each of these hairs is inclined posteriorly from just above its base, then curves smoothly upwards so that at least the apical half of the shaft is directed vertically or nearly so (as in ornata, Fig. 166). Posterior to this pair of very specialized hairs the clypeal dorsum with 2-3 pairs of posteriorly curved short hairs that are filiform to very narrowly spatulate. Dorsolateral margin of head with 2 long flagellate hairs, one apicoscrobal, the other anterior to this above the eye; distribution of flagellate hairs otherwise as in cloydi.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Lectotype worker (by designation of Brown, 1953a: 68) and paralectotype workers, U. S.A.: Mississippi, Lucedale (H. Dietrich) [examined].