Holcoponera porcata

A dweller of premontane to montane humid forests. J. Longino (pers. comm.) found an incipent nest in Cecropia insignis. One nest midden contained mostly the remains of beetles: scotylids, bostrichids, curculionids, besides isopods. Nests from one population (Venezuela, Tachira) consistently had their brood chambers irregularly wall-papered with the remains of pupal cocoons.

Identification
A member of the porcata subgroup (in the striatula species group). Costate species, median longitudinal costae on pronotum inscribed anteriorly by transverse costae; posterodorsal mesosomal sculpture variable: concentric ovaloids with longitudinal or transverse orientation, or with longitudinal costae inscribed within whorls; piceous body with ferruginous legs. The study of a series from Venezuela representing several colonies from different populations show great variability for dorsal mesosomal sculpturing. (Lattke 1995)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 * . Ectatomma (Holcoponera) porcatum Emery, 1896g: 48 (w.) COSTA RICA.
 * Type-material: holotype worker.
 * Type-locality: Costa Rica: Alajuela (A. Alfaro).
 * Type-depository: MSNG.
 * Forel, 1908b: 38 (q.m.).
 * Combination in Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 229;
 * combination in Holcoponera: Emery, 1911d: 40; Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Status as species: Forel, 1899c: 7; Forel, 1908b: 38; Emery, 1911d: 40; Santschi, 1929h: 462 (redescription); Brown, 1958g: 229, 320; Kempf, 1972a: 114; Lattke, 1990b: 20; Brandão, 1991: 345; Bolton, 1995b: 210; Lattke, 1995: 180; Lattke, et al. 2004: 348; Lattke, et al. 2007: 258 (in key); Lattke, et al. 2008: 96; Branstetter & Sáenz, 2012: 255; Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 111; Feitosa, 2015c: 98; Feitosa & Prada-Achiardi, 2019: 673; Camacho, et al. 2020: 455 (in key); Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Senior synonym of magnifica: Lattke, 1995: 180; Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Distribution: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecusador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela.
 * magnifica. Holcoponera magnifica Santschi, 1921g: 81 (w.) BRAZIL (no state data).
 * Type-material: 2 syntype workers.
 * Type-locality: Brazil: “frontière bolivienne” (Reichensperger).
 * Type-depository: NHMB.
 * Combination in Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 228.
 * Status as species: Borgmeier, 1923: 102; Santschi, 1929h: 462; Brown, 1958g: 228; Kempf, 1972a: 113; Bolton, 1995b: 209.
 * Junior synonym of porcata: Lattke, 1995: 180; Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Borgmeier T. 1923. Catalogo systematico e synonymico das formigas do Brasil. 1 parte. Subfam. Dorylinae, Cerapachyinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae. Archivos do Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) 24: 33-103.
 * Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Forel A. 1908. Fourmis de Costa-Rica récoltées par M. Paul Biolley. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 44: 35-72.
 * 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.
 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Kusnezov N. 1953. La fauna mirmecológica de Bolivia. Folia Universitaria. Cochabamba 6: 211-229.
 * Lattke J. E. 1995. Revision of the ant genus Gnamptogenys in the New World (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 4: 137-193
 * Lattke J. E., F. Fernández, E. E. Palacio. 2004. Una nueva especie de Gnamptogenys (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) y comentarios sobre las especies del género en Colombia y Ecuador. Iheringia. Série Zoologia 94: 341-349.
 * Lattke, J. E. 1990b. Revisión del género Gnamptogenys Roger en Venezuela (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Terramaris 2: 1-47
 * 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.
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
 * Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Ottonetti L., L. Tucci, F. Frizzi, G. Chelazzi, and G. Santini. 2010. Changes in ground-foraging ant assemblages along a disturbance gradient in a tropical agricultural landscape. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 22: 7386.
 * Salinas P. J. 2010. Catalogue of the ants of the Táchira State, Venezuela, with notes on their biodiversity, biogeography and ecology (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyioponinae, Ponerinae, Proceratiinae, Myrmicinae, Ecitoninae, Formicinae, Pseudomyrmecinae, Dolichoderinae). Boletín de la SEA 47: 315-328.
 * Santschi F. 1921. Ponerinae, Dorylinae et quelques autres formicides néotropiques. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 54: 81-103.
 * Santschi F. 1929. Révision du genre Holcoponera Mayr. Zoologischer Anzeiger. 82: 437-477.
 * Siqueira de Castro F., A. B. Gontijo, P. de Tarso Amorim Castro, and S. Pontes Ribeiro. 2012. Annual and Seasonal Changes in the Structure of Litter-Dwelling Ant Assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Atlantic Semideciduous Forests. Psyche doi:10.1155/2012/959715
 * Siqueira de Castro F., A. B. Gontijo, W. Duarte da Rocha, and S. Pontes Ribeiro. 2011. As comunidades de formigas de serapilheira nas florestas semidecíduas do Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais. MG.BIOTA, Belo Horizonte 3(5): 5-24.