Strumigenys rogata

This species is known from low to high elevation sites in a range of forest types from southern Mexico to Costa Rica. The bulk of the hundreds of collections are from litter samples.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the azteca-complex in the Strumigenys excisa-group. Pilosity among this material is variable; some are like the type-series but most differ slightly from that described above. Cephalic dorsum with 0, 1 or rarely 2 pairs of short standing simple hairs behind highest point of vertex. Dorsolateral margin of head usually hairless but a few with an apicoscrobal simple hair. Pronotum with humeral hair plus 1-3 additional pairs on dorsum close to humerus. Mesonotum usually with a single pair of short standing hairs but 2-3 pairs may occur. First gastral tergite with 1-5 pairs of short standing simple hairs in the basal half.

This pilosity is relatively sparse when compared with Strumigenys turpis, and rogata and turpis together lack the high-domed head and deep narrow preocular arch in the ventrolateral margin of the head that characterises Strumigenys azteca.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Mandible short and curving downward in profile; lateral head capsule with the antennal scrobe mostly or entirely smooth and shining; propodeal spines present (former Glamyromyrmex); leading edge of scape lacking erect setae; disc of postpetiole in dorsal view very broadly U-shaped or V-shaped, with an extremely deeply concave anterior face; spongiform tissue absent from ventral surface of petiole, postpetiole and first gastral sternite; face lacking erect setae; head in side view convex above and below, not flattened; pronotal humeral hair present.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico.

Nomenclature

 *  rogata. Pyramica rogata Bolton, 2000: 175, figs. 129, 176, 177 (w.) MEXICO. Combination in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 126

Worker
Holotype. TL 2.2, HL 0.58, HW 0.48, CI 83, ML 0.10, MI 17, SL 0.23, SI 48, PW 0.28, AL 0.57. Dorsal surfaces of head and alitrunk without standing hairs except for a single simple hair at the pronotal humerus. Sparse short simple hairs are present on the waist segments but the dorsum of the first gastral tergite has only 1-2 pairs, located on the basal half of the sclerite (see discussion of pilosity, below). Ventrolateral margin of head shallowly arched in front of eye, the arch mostly spanned by a thin cuticular lamina. Behind eye the ventrolateral margin not thinly laminate. Eye with 6-7 ommatidia in total. With head in full-face view anterior clypeal margin obviously concave; indentation between lateral clypeal margin and frontal lobe vestigial, almost effaced. Dorsolateral margins of head in full-face view evenly shallowly convex, narrowest just behind clypeus, broadening to a point just behind the midlength then converging slightly toward to occipital corners. Vertex of head with minute scattered superficial punctures on a shiny surface, the upper scrobe margins finely shagreenate. Alitrunk smooth and shining everywhere. Head in profile only moderately convex, not forming a high continuous dome from front to back. Disc of petiole in dorsal view much broader than long. Basigastral costulae sharply defined dorsolaterally, longer laterally than medially, the spaces between them finely superficially shagreenate.

Paratype. TL 2.3, HL 0.62, HW 0.53, CI 85, ML 0.11, MI 18, SL 0.26, SI 49, PW 0.30, AL 0.62.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Mexico: Chiapas, 3.9 mi. S Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan, 5400 ft, 28.viii. 1973, pine-oak-Liquidambar, leaf litter, forest floor (A. Newton). Paratype. 1 worker with same data as holotype.