Brachymyrmex donisthorpei

A Colombian specimen (JTLC000005903) was found in the sifted leaf litter of a montane wet forest.

Identification
Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019) - Brachymyrmex donisthorpei morphologically resembles Brachymyrmex modestus and Brachymyrmex myops because they all have dense, short pubescence over the entire body, scapes with short suberect hears, eyes that are positioned below the cephalic midline, a metanotal groove that is either absent or narrower than the diameter of the metathoracic spiracles, and yellowish body color. Brachymyrmex donisthorpei differs from B. modestus and B. myops by its short scapes that approximately reach the posterior margin of the head or surpass it by less than the maximal diameter of the eye.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay.

Nomenclature

 * . Brachymyrmex donisthorpei Santschi, 1939e: 320, figs. 4, 5 (w.) COLOMBIA.
 * Status as species: Kempf, 1972a: 39; Bolton, 1995b: 82; Fernández & Ortiz-Sepúlveda, 2019: 728; Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 494 (redescription).

Worker
Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019) - Lectotype and paralectotype (n = 2). HL1 0.39–0.41; HL2 0.25–0.27; HL3 0.08; HW 0.33–0.35; SL 0.27–0.29; EL 0.05; WL 0.39; PnL 0.10; PnW 0.27–0.29; ML 0.10; MW 0.20; Indices CI 85.00–85.71; SI1 82.35–83.33; SI2 107.14–107.69; OI1 13.89–14.71; OI2 19.05–20.00. Additional material (n = 4). HL1 0.32–0.38; HL2 0.22–0.29; HL3 0.07–0.09; HW 0.26–0.33; SL 0.24–0.29; EL 0.04; WL 0.27–0.38; PnL 0.11–0.12; PnW 0.20–0.23; ML 0.06–0.09; MW 0.13–0.16; Indices CI 80.55–86.05; SI1 86.49–96.55; SI2 96.97–112.00; OI1 13.51– 16.67; OI1 22.22–23.26.

Head. Substantially longer than wide in full face view; posterior cephalic margin slightly concave. Clypeus with a rounded anterior margin and five long, erect hairs of which a single, usually conspicuous hair is near the anterior margin, two hairs are in mediolateral position, and two more near the toruli; other hairs on the clypeus are markedly shorter and appressed or decumbent. Toruli surpassing the posterior clypeal margin in oblique anterodorsal view. Dorsum of the head has conspicuous appressed pubescence and several suberect hairs. The scapes approximately reach the posterior margin of the head or surpass it by a length smaller than the maximal diameter of the eye, and they have appressed and decumbent hairs. Ocelli absent. The eyes are positioned below the cephalic midline and have only 3–4 ommatidia along their maximal diameter.

Mesosoma. With several short appressed and sub-erect hairs. The mesonotum is not inflated and does not bulge dorsally above the pronotum in lateral view. Metanotal groove absent or narrower than the diameter of the metathoracic spiracles. Metathoracic spiracles dorsolateral in position, not protruding, and touching the propodeal suture. Dorsum of the propodeum flat and much shorter than propodeal declivity. Propodeal spiracles circular, small and inconspicuous, positioned on the posterior propodeal margin, slightly posterior of the middle of the propodeal slope. Legs with appressed and sub-erect hairs. Petiole short and inclined forward.

Gaster. With appressed dense pubescence and some suberect hairs near the edges of the segments.

Color and sculpture. Body yellowish, with imbricate sculpture on the dorsum of the mesosoma.

Type Material
Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019) - Lectotype worker (: USNMENT00757183) and paralectotype workers (NHMB: USNMENT00757184– 00757185; here designated): three workers [examined]. COLOMBIA, Mar. 1937, Paul Robá, leg.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Fernández F., E. E. Palacio, W. P. Mackay, and E. S. MacKay. 1996. Introducción al estudio de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Colombia. Pp. 349-412 in: Andrade M. G., G. Amat García, and F. Fernández. (eds.) 1996. Insectos de Colombia. Estudios escogidos. Bogotá: Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 541 pp
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Ortiz-Sepuvelda C. M., B. Van Bocxlaer, A. D. Meneses, and F. Fernandez. 2019. Molecular and morphological recognition of species boundaries in the neglected ant genus Brachymyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): toward a taxonomic revision. Organisms Diversity & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-019-00406-2
 * Santschi F. 1939. Études et descriptions de fourmis néotropiques. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro). 10: 312-330.