Strumigenys zeteki

Inhabits lowland rainforests. I have encountered it mainly as workers from Winkler samples of forest floor leaf litter. At La Selva Biological Station, an alate queen was collected in a canopy fogging sample. (Longino, Ants of Costa Rica)

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the crassicornis complex in the Strumigenys gundlachi group. The general description of the body and its pilosity also applies to Strumigenys auctidens and Strumigenys stenotes; characters separating these from zeteki are noted on their species pages.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Mandibles in full-face view linear, elongate and narrow; ventral surface of petiole without spongiform tissue; leading edge of scape with freely projecting hairs; inner margin of mandible with a clearly defined submedian tooth near the midlength; labral lobes long, trigger hairs at apices of lobes short; preapical denticles gradually decreasing in size; mandibles relatively short (MI 33-45); propodeal suture moderately impressed; total head length less than 0.90mm; eyes relatively small, with 14 or fewer ommatidia, with 2-4 in longest row; scapes relatively short (SI 48-61); head in full-face view relatively narrow, CI 66-71; in profile head strongly dorsoventrally flattened, the maximum depth of the head capsule 0.35-0.41 X head length; color light yellow-brown; pair of mesonotal setae short and inconspicuous, tilted rearward.

Distribution
Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru.

Nomenclature

 *  zeteki. Neostruma zeteki Brown, 1959b: 10, figs. 1, 5 (w.q.) PANAMA. Combination in Pyramica: Bolton, 1999: 1672; in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 130. See also: Bolton, 2000: 196.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 1.7-2.1, HL 0.50-0.57, HW 0.34-0.39, CI 67-71, ML 0.17-0.22, MI 34-38, SL 0.17- 0.22, SI 49-56, PW 0.24-0.30, AL 0.47-0.56 (20 measured). Characters of crassicornis complex. Apicodorsal tooth of mandible followed proximally by a row of 4 - 8 denticles and a larger submedian tooth. Proximal to submedian tooth is a row of 3 - 7 denticles. Apex of mandible with 3 - 4 minute intercalary denticles between apicodorsal and apicoventral teeth. Outer margin of mandible concave through its apical third. Head narrow and markedly dorsoventrally flattened, in profile the dorsum concave above and behind the level of the eyes and the maximum vertical distance between highest and lowest points of head capsule 0.36-0.41 X HL. Hairs on leading edge of scape very broadly splayed out apically, at least one curved toward the base of the scape. Pronotal humeral hair short stout and flat, directed anterolaterally. Pronotum flattened and bluntly marginate dorsolaterally, its dorsum without standing hairs. Mesonotum somewhat more strongly marginate and with a pair of very short erect hairs (easily lost). Ventral spongiform lobe of postpetiole small but di stinct, the disc densely reticulate-punctate. Standing hairs on petiole, postpetiole and first gastral tergite remiform or somewhat apically flattened and expanded. Head and alitrunk reticulate-punctate everywhere except for katepisternum, which is smooth.

Type Material
Holotype worker, paratype workers and queen, PANAMA: Canal Zone, Barro Colorado Island, ii-iii. 1943 (J. Zetek) (examined).