Leptanilloides mckennae

This new species is known only from the type material. Duane McKenna collected the ants in a leaf litter sample at 1300m in the Bajo del Tigre Reserve on 22 June 1995 at 7:00am. A few dozen workers were in sifted litter from a 0.5m2 plot. The Bajo del Tigre Reserve is a patch of moist forest on the Pacific slope just below Monteverde. It is an area of abrupt habitat change, from highly seasonal and somewhat xeric conditions a few kilometers downslope to cold, wet cloud forest conditions a few kilometers upslope. (Longino 2003)

Identification
A member of the Leptanilloides legionaria species-group.

Longino (2003) - Genal teeth lacking; dorsal face of propodeum much longer than posterior face; postpetiole smaller than petiole in lateral view; gaster with constrictions between segments.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica.

Nomenclature

 *  mckennae. Leptanilloides mckennae Longino, 2003b: 2, pl. 1 (w.) COSTA RICA. Ward, 2007b: 642 (m.).

Worker
Holotype: HL 0.707, HW 0.559, SL 0.492, WL 0.942, PL 0.237, PPL 0.172. Paratypes. (two workers): specimen one: HL 0.738, HW 0.635; specimen two: HL 0.753, HW 0.631.

Head subrectangular, with gently convex sides; mandibles in side view strongly curved ventrally; masticatory margin concave, with approximately 10 evenly spaced, extremely minute denticles; masticatory margin smoothly rounding into basal margin; dorsal surface of mandible sublucid, faintly striate, with scattered piligerous puncta; clypeus short, with broadly triangular translucent anterior lamella; antennal sockets fully exposed in face view; frontal carinae closely approximated, forming a low median keel; gena lacking lateral teeth overlapping mandible bases; entire head capsule, dorsally and ventrally, uniformly and densely punctate; eyes absent; scapes when laid back reach 3/4 distance from antennal insertions to posterolateral vertex margins; antennae 12-segmented, second funicular segment one and a half times length of first and third segment, which are subequal in length; funicular segments gradually thicken distally to longer, fusiform apical segment.

Pronotal suture present and flexible; in profile pronotal and mesopropodeal sutures very weakly impressed, pronotum and mesonotum forming very low convexities, dorsal face of propodeum long and flat, gently sloping posteriorly before rounding into short posterior face, dorsal face twice as long as posterior face; flange over metapleural gland opening forming a blunt angle; pronotum and dorsal face of mesonotum punctate, interspaces subequal in width to puncta diameters, interspaces smooth and shiny; mesopleura and propodeum more densely, finely punctate, mat; lacking metatibial gland; middle and hind tibiae each with single pectinate spur, metatibial spur larger than mesotibial spur; claws simple.

Petiole and postpetiole very small; petiolar tergite with anterior node and long sloping posterior face; petiolar sternite with deep, rounded anteroventral process; anterior juncture of petiolar tergite and sternite forming an angular notch; anterior margins of tergite and sternite produced anteriorly with carinate rims, such that petiole has an anterior pocket that encloses the narrow presclerites that articulate with the propodeum; petiolar spiracle on anterior rim of tergite, very small and difficult to see; postpetiole somewhat barrel-shaped, tergite a half cylinder, with flat semicircular anterior face above very small neck of helcium, sternite also large, with large anteroventrally projecting tooth; postpetiolar spiracle on anteromedian side of tergite, beneath juncture of anterior and dorsal face of tergite.

Gaster elliptical, with three large, conspicuous segments (abdominal segments 4, 5, and 6), and with distinct constrictions between them; spiracle of abdominal segment 4 very small, located on lateral tergite one third distance from anterior to posterior margin, spiracles on 5th and 6th segments larger and closer to anterior margin of tergite; tergites and sternites smooth and shining.

Entire body and appendages covered with uniform length, moderately abundant, subdecumbent to appressed pubescence; somewhat longer setae restricted to mouth region and ventral margin of postpetiole; head capsule, mandibles, and pronotum red brown, grading to lighter yellow brown on propodeum, petiole, postpetiole, gaster, and appendages.

Type Material
Holotype worker: Costa Rica, Puntarenas Prov., Monteverde, 1300m, 10°18'N 84°48'W, July 1995, in moist forest litter (D. McKenna) [Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad, Costa Rica]. Specimen code INBIOCRI001281138. Paratypes, all same data as holotype, each pin with 2 workers and unique specimen code: INBIOCRI001281139 [The Natural History Museum, London, U.K.]; INBIOCRI001281140 [John T. Longino, personal collection, Olympia, WA, USA]; INBIOCRI001281141 [Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, CA, USA]; INBIOCRI001281142 [Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA]; INBIOCRI001281143 [Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil]; INBIOCRI001281144 [University of California, Davis, CA, USA]; INBIOCRI001281145 [National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA]; INBIOCRI001281146 [Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Switzerland]; INBIOCRI001281147 [American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA]. Additional workers from the type series (all nestmates) are in 95% ethanol and have been deposited at and stored in liquid nitrogen to preserve DNA. These workers were stored at ambient temperatures prior to deposition at USNM.

Etymology
Named for Duane McKenna, who collected the type series. It is used here as a noun in apposition and thus invariant.