Holcoponera relicta

Sifted from leaf litter in rain forests.

Identification
A member of the haytiana complex (in the strigata subgroup of the striatula species group). The degree of effacement of sculpture, and size can vary considerably. Mandibles, vertex and anterior petiolar face smooth and shining, occiput sometimes with very faint transverse costulae; last 3 antennal segments form vague club; declivitous propodeal face with transverse costulae, propodeal spiracles elevated above rest of cuticle; pronotal suture present but fine, metanotal suture well impressed, breaking sculpture; no anterolateral lobes on declivitous propodeal face; metacoxal spine present.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 * . Rhopalopone relicta Mann, 1916: 403, pl. 1, figs. 4, 5 (w.) BRAZIL (Rondônia).
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated, “several”).
 * Type-locality: Brazil: Mato Grosso (= Rondônia), Madeira-Mamoré Camp 39 (284 km. from Porto Velho), 1911 (W.M. Mann).
 * Type-depositories: MCZC, USNM.
 * Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1964b: 446 (l.).
 * Combination in Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 229;
 * combination in Holcoponera: Brown, 1956b: 491; Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Status as species: Borgmeier, 1923: 54; Brown, 1956b: 491; Brown, 1958g: 229; Kempf, 1972a: 114; Bolton, 1995b: 210; Lattke, 1995: 182; Lattke, et al. 2004: 348; Lattke, et al. 2007: 257 (in key); Lattke, et al. 2008: 97; Feitosa, 2015c: 98; Guénard & Economo, 2015: 226; Feitosa & Prada-Achiardi, 2019: 673; Camacho, et al. 2020: 453 (in key); Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad, Venezuela.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Arias-Penna T. M. 2008. Subfamilia Ectatomminae. Pp. 53-107 in: Jiménez, E.; Fernández, F.; Arias, T.M.; Lozano-Zambrano, F. H. (eds.) 2008. Sistemática, biogeografía y conservación de las hormigas cazadoras de Colombia. Bogotá: Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, xiv + 609 pp.
 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1958. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. II. Tribe Ectatommini (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 118: 173-362.
 * Fernandes I., and J. de Souza. 2018. Dataset of long-term monitoring of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the influence areas of a hydroelectric power plant on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e24375.
 * 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.
 * Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, F. Petitclerc, B. Corbara, M. Leponce, R. Cereghino, and A. Dejean. 2017. Litter-dwelling ants as bioindicators to gauge the sustainability of small arboreal monocultures embedded in the Amazonian rainforest. Ecological Indicators 82: 43-49.
 * Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, M. Leponce, J. Orivel, R. Silvestre, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and A. Dejean. 2013. Leaf-litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover. Myrmecological News 19: 43-51.
 * Groc S., J. Orivel, A. Dejean, J. Martin, M. Etienne, B. Corbara, and J. H. C. Delabie. 2009. Baseline study of the leaf-litter ant fauna in a French Guianese forest. Insect Conservation and Diversity 2: 183-193.
 * Leponce M., J. H. C. Delabie, J. Orivel, J. Jacquemin, M. Calvo Martin, and A. Dejean. 2019. Tree-dwelling ant survey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Mitaraka, French Guiana, in Touroult J. (ed.), “Our Planet Reviewed” 2015 large-scale biotic survey in Mitaraka, French Guiana. Zoosystema 41 (10): 163-179.
 * Mann W. M. 1916. The Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 1911, John C. Branner, Director. The ants of Brazil. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 60: 399-490
 * Sosa-Calvo J. 2007. Ants of the leaf litter of two plateaus in Eastern Suriname. In Alonso, L.E. and J.H. Mol (eds.). 2007. A rapid biological assessment of the Lely and Nassau plateaus, Suriname (with additional information on the Brownsberg Plateau). RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 43. Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA.
 * Souza J. L. P., C. A. R. Moura, A. Y. Harada, and E. Franklin. 2007. Diversity of species of the genera Crematogaster, Gnamptogenys and Pachycondyla, (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and complementarity of sampling methods during the dry season in an ecological station in the Brazilian state of Pará. Acta Amazonica 37(4): 649-656.