Attaphila paucisetosa

There are nine species of myrmecophiles in the genus Attaphila.

Diagnosis
Male: As in A. fungicola and A. flava with specialisations on T2 (but these are wider, with more complicated ridges), distinguished by the arrangement of the surface bristles of T2–5 in one transversal line. Female: Well characterized by the combined occurrence of two features: bristles of T2–5 arranged in one strict transversal line, and T6,7 with only few and rather small bristles. The latter feature is also shared by A. fungicola, which, however, has dispersed surface bristles on T2–5. The species A. inuosocarinata and A. multisetosa resemble A. paucisetosa in the first feature, but are distinguished by having numerous surface bristles on T6,7 and by differences in the laterosternal shelf area.

Distribution
Colombia, Panama

Biology
While the Orthoptera, as a rule, are large or medium-sized insects, both Myrmecophila and Attaphila are so far below even the average stature of insects of this order that we must conclude either that they have become reduced in size secondarily in adaptation to their present habitat and companionship, or that they were originally diminutive species, and, for that very reason, better able to enter into symbiotic relationship with the ants. The latter alternative seems to be the more probable

Ant host Atta colombica, Atta cephalotes