Strumigenys ludia

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Brown (1962) reports that ludia is a forest species and usually nests in rotten branches or twigs lying on the forest floor. He also reports that the food is chiefly entomobryoid Collembola. In Costa Rica, I have observed ludia in young second growth habitats, and not in Winkler or other samples from mature forest. Thus, this species may be associated with synanthropic habitats.

Identification
A member of the Strumigenys ludia-group.

Longino (Ants of Costa Rica) - Apical fork of mandible with one intercalary tooth; mandible with no preapical teeth; petiole with node only feebly differentiated from its anterior peduncle; gastral hairs mostly stiff, spatulate.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico.

Nomenclature

 *  ludia. Strumigenys (Strumigenys) ludia Mann, 1922: 35, fig. 17 (w.) HONDURAS. Brown, 1954c: 195 (q.). Senior synonym of tenuis: Brown, 1954c: 194. See also: Bolton, 2000: 528.
 * tenuis. Strumigenys (Strumigenys) ludia subsp. tenuis Weber, 1934a: 31 (w.) NICARAGUA. Junior synonym of ludia: Brown, 1954c: 194.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 2.9-3.3, HL 0.67-0.78, HW 0.53-0.66, CI 78-87, ML 0.46-0.56, MI 65-75, SL 0.50-0.62, SI 85-100, PW 0.30-0.40, AL 0.65-0.80 (10 measured).

Mandible without trace of preapical dentition. Apicoscrobal hair and pronotal humeral hair long and very fine, subflagellate to flagellate, the former apparently easily lost by abrasion. Mesonotum with a pair of flagellate hairs. These flagellate hairs contrast strongly with the gastral pilosity which is narrowly to distinctly remiform, stout and shallowly curved. Cephalic dorsum with a single pair of standing hairs, close to the occipital margin. Pronotal dorsum with longitudinal or oblique rugulae present, may be faint. Petiole subclaviform to claviform, the node in profile usually long and low but moderately swollen in some samples. Disc of postpetiole reticulate-punctate, usually also with longitudinal costulae, of variable intensity. First gastral tergite finely and densely longitudinally striolate over the basal third to two-thirds, behind this the costulae fading out and the surface densely finely punctulate, faintly and superficially so in some samples.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Syntype workers, HONDURAS: Cecilia, ii-iii.1920, No. 24456 (W. M. Mann) [examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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 * Bolton, B. 2000. The Ant Tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65
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 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
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 * Sosa-Calvo J., S. O. Shattuck, and T. R. Schultz. 2006. Dacetine ants of Panama: new records and description of a new species. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 108: 814-821.
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