Ectatomma tuberculatum

De Oliveira et al. (2015), studying ant occupancy of Cecropia trees in southwest Bahia, Brazil, found two colonies of  nesting in Cecropia pachystachya trees.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

Biology
This ant is preyed on by the social parasite Ectatomma parasiticum.

When alarmed, workers will feign death.

Castes
Two size categories of queens were thought to exist in E. tuberculatum. The small queens were believed to be microgynes. Macrogynes were found to be approximately 20% larger in size and twice as heavy as microgynes (and up to three times heavier in terms of dry weight). Both types can be inseminated. They differ in the number of ovarioles per ovary (20 vs. 14)(Lachaud et al. 1999). Presently these small queens are classified as a parasitic ant species Ectatomma parasiticum.



Nomenclature

 *  tuberculatum. Formica tuberculata Olivier, 1792: 498 (w.q.) TRINIDAD. Smith, F. 1858b: 102 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1952a: 129 (l.). Combination in Ectatomma: Smith, F. 1858b: 102. Senior synonym of tridentata: Smith, F. 1858b: 102; of ferrugineus: Emery, 1892b: 167; of irregularis, punctigerum: Weber, 1946a: 2; of acrista: Kempf, 1962b: 2.
 * tridentata. Formica tridentata Fabricius, 1804: 412 (w.) "America meridionali". Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Smith, F. 1858b: 102.
 * ferruginea. Ectatomma ferruginea Norton, 1868a: 61, pl. 2, fig. 4 (w.m.) MEXICO. Norton, 1868c: 5 (w.m., descriptions). Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Emery, 1892b: 167.
 * punctigerum. Ectatomma tuberculatum var. punctigerum Emery, 1890a: 56 (w.) VENEZUELA. Lever, 1930: 214 (q.). Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Weber, 1946a: 2.
 * acrista. Ectatomma tuberculatum subsp. acrista Forel, 1909a: 254 (w.q.) PARAGUAY. Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Weber, 1946a: 2. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Brown, 1958g: 208. Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Kempf, 1962b: 2.
 * irregularis. Ectatomma tuberculatum var. irregularis Santschi, 1921g: 83 (w.) COLOMBIA. Junior synonym of tuberculatum: Weber, 1946a: 2.