Rhopalothrix weberi

This species occurs in lowland wet to moist forest, from 200–575m elevation. The recent collections are all from Winkler samples of sifted litter and rotten wood on the forest floor. Among the Project LLAMA specimens, seven are dealate queens and only two are workers, mostly from separate samples. This could reflect subterranean habits of the workers, with new queens dispersing up into the litter layer. (Longino & Boudinot, 2013)

Distribution
Cuba, Honduras to southern Mexico.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Cuba, Greater Antilles, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico.

Castes
Males have yet to be collected.

Nomenclature

 * wheeleri. Heptastruma wheeleri Weber, 1934a: 55, fig. 13 (w.) CUBA. Longino & Boudinot, 2013: 323 (q.). [Junior secondary homonym of Rhopalothrix wheeleri Mann, 1922: 43, above.] Replacement name: Rhopalothrix weberi Brown & Kempf, 1960: 234.
 *  weberi. Rhopalothrix weberi Brown & Kempf, 1960: 234. Replacement name for Heptastruma wheeleri Weber, 1934a: 55. [Junior secondary homonym of Rhopalothrix wheeleri Mann, 1922: 43.]

Worker
Longino and Boudinot (2013) - (based on two workers from Tikal National Park, Guatemala). HW 0.38–0.39 (n=2); mandible with two closely-spaced, very short teeth at base, these basal teeth with broad confluent bases, either with distinct denticulate apices or completely confluent and forming a low lamina at base, a small denticle about mid-distance between basal teeth and base of subapical tooth, reclinate denticle at base of subapical tooth absent, subapical tooth shorter than width of mandible at base, only slightly longer than subapical tooth, intercalary teeth present but minute; labrum about as long as broad, with two long, bluntly triangular lobes, sinus between them deep, length of anterolateral lobe longer than or about equal to distance from base of sinus to transverse carina at base of labrum; anterior clypeal margin concave; erect setae on leading edge of scape stiff but narrow, hardly clavate, unlike the squamiform setae typical of many other species; arcuate promesonotal groove and metanotal groove weakly impressed; propodeal tooth right angled, infradental lamella thin, evenly and shallowly concave; first gastral tergite with sparse squamiform setae on posterior half, one specimen with five setae on posterior margin and three anteriorly, one specimen with seven and five, respectively.

Queen
Longino and Boudinot (2013) - HW 0.40–0.54 (n=5); mandible and labrum similar to worker; face shape similar to worker but with grooves and ridges more shallowly impressed; compound eye shorter than maximum width of scape, with 5–6 facets across longest axis; ocelli small, cuticle adjacent to ocelli marked with black pigment spots on evenly light brown background; shape of propodeal tooth, petiole and postpetiole similar to worker; shape of infradental lamella variable (see Comments); katepisternum and anepisternum large, convex, separated by broad groove; pubescence layer of abundant, short, curved setae covers mandible, face, scapes, legs, dorsal mesosoma and metasoma; abundant stiff erect setae on face, anterior edge of scape, side of head, dorsal mesosoma, dorsal gaster.

Type Material
Longino and Boudinot (2013) - Holotype, worker: Cuba, Las Villas: Casa Harvard near Central Soledad, 24 July 1933, in red clay from under stones and grass roots which had been run through a Berlese funnel (N.A. Weber) (not examined).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Achury R., and A.V. Suarez. 2017. Richness and composition of ground-dwelling ants in tropical rainforest and surrounding landscapes in the Colombian Inter-Andean valley. Neotropical Entomology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-017-0565-4
 * Alayo D. P. 1974. Introduccion al estudio de los Himenopteros de Cuba. Superfamilia Formicoidea. Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. Instituto de Zoologia. Serie Biologica no.53: 58 pp. La Habana.
 * Branstetter M. G. and L. Sáenz. 2012. Las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Guatemala. Pp. 221-268 in: Cano E. B. and J. C. Schuster. (eds.) 2012. Biodiversidad de Guatemala. Volumen 2. Guatemala: Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, iv + 328 pp
 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1949. Revision of the ant tribe Dacetini: IV. Some genera properly excluded from the Dacetini, with the establishment of the Basicerotini new tribe. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 75: 83-96.
 * Brown W. L., Jr., and W. W. Kempf. 1960. A world revision of the ant tribe Basicerotini. Stud. Entomol. (n.s.) 3: 161-250.
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Fontanla Rizo J.L. 1997. Lista preliminar de las hormigas de Cuba. Cocuyo 6: 18-21.
 * Fontenla J. L., and J. Alfonso-Simonetti. 2018. Classification of Cuban ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) into functional groups. Poeyana Revista Cubana de Zoologia 506: 21-30.
 * Fontenla Rizo J. L. 1997. Lista preliminar de las hormigas de Cuba (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Cocuyo 6: 18-21.
 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
 * Kempf W. W. 1961. A survey of the ants of the soil fauna in Surinam (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 4: 481-524.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
 * Longino J. T., and B. E. Boudinot. 2013. New species of Central American Rhopalothrix Mayr, 1870 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zootaxa 3616: 301-324.
 * Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
 * Quiroz-Robledo L., and J. Valenzuela González. 2010. First record of the ant Rhopalothrix weberi Brown and Kempf 1960 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) for Mexico. Florida Entomologist. 93: 319- 320.
 * Vasquez-Bolanos M. 2011. Checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Mexico. Dugesiana 18(1): 95-133.
 * Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
 * Weber N. A. 1934. Notes on neotropical ants, including the descriptions of new forms. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 4: 22-59.