Holcoponera porcata

A dweller of premontane to montane humid forests. J. Longino (pers. comm.) found an incipent nest in Cecropia insignis. One nest midden contained mostly the remains of beetles: scotylids, bostrichids, curculionids, besides isopods. Nests from one population (Venezuela, Tachira) consistently had their brood chambers irregularly wall-papered with the remains of pupal cocoons.

Identification
A member of the porcata subgroup (in the striatula species group). Costate species, median longitudinal costae on pronotum inscribed anteriorly by transverse costae; posterodorsal mesosomal sculpture variable: concentric ovaloids with longitudinal or transverse orientation, or with longitudinal costae inscribed within whorls; piceous body with ferruginous legs. The study of a series from Venezuela representing several colonies from different populations show great variability for dorsal mesosomal sculpturing. (Lattke 1995)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 *  porcata. Ectatomma (Holcoponera) porcatum Emery, 1896g: 48 (w.) COSTA RICA. Forel, 1908b: 38 (q.m.). Combination in Holcoponera: Emery, 1911d: 40; in Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 229. Senior synonym of magnifica: Lattke, 1995: 180.
 * magnifica. Holcoponera magnifica Santschi, 1921g: 81 (w.) BRAZIL. Combination in Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 228. Junior synonym of porcata: Lattke, 1995: 180.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
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 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
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 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Ottonetti L., L. Tucci, F. Frizzi, G. Chelazzi, and G. Santini. 2010. Changes in ground-foraging ant assemblages along a disturbance gradient in a tropical agricultural landscape. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 22: 7386.
 * Salinas P. J. 2010. Catalogue of the ants of the Táchira State, Venezuela, with notes on their biodiversity, biogeography and ecology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyioponinae, Ponerinae, Proceratiinae, Myrmicinae, Ecitoninae, Formicinae, Pseudomyrmecinae, Dolichoderinae). Boletín de la SEA 47: 315-328.
 * Santschi F. 1921. Ponerinae, Dorylinae et quelques autres formicides néotropiques. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 54: 81-103.
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