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Species: Belonopelta deletrix

Name Status: Valid Name

Taxonomic Hierarchy:

Subfamily: Ponerinae Genus: Belonopelta

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2013)

Belonopelta deletrix Mann, 1922 PDF: 9, fig. 4 (w.) HONDURAS. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

Wilson, 1955b PDF: 82 (q.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1964b PDF: 452 (l.).

Combination in Leiopelta: Baroni Urbani, 1975b PDF: 309; in Belonopelta: Bolton, 1995b: 80.

Distribution:

Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica. Costa Rica: known from Cordillera Volcanica Central, Talamancas.

Biology:

Natural History:

Wilson (1955) described the dealate queen and gave details of the habits of B. deletrix in southern Mexico. It makes very small colonies (or colony fragments) of up to 16 workers and a dealate queen with scanty brood, usually or always in rotten wood fragments on the soil in leaf litter. The prey is apparently small, soft-bodied insects; Wilson thought campodeids were favored. Brown (pers. comm.) observed B. deletrix in Costa Rica and Honduras, and confirmed the habitat and small nest populations as seen by Wilson.

I have seen the following collections of B. deletrix from Costa Rica:

Heredia: 17km N Vol. Barba, 10°17'N, 84°5'W, 800m (J. Longino). ex sifted leaf litter in wet forest.

Heredia: La Selva Biological Station, 10°26'N, 84°1'W, 50m (M. Kaspari).

Puntarenas: Wilson Botanical Garden, 4km S San Vito, 8°47'N, 82°58'W, 1200m (L and A Alonso).

Puntarenas: Estacion Biol. Pittier, 9°02'N, 82°58'W, 1670m (J. Longino). ex sifted litter from wet forest.

References:

Mann, W. M. 1922. Ants from Honduras and Guatemala. Proc. U.S. Natn. Mus. 61:1-54.

Wilson, E. O. 1955. Ecology and behavior of the ant Belonopelta deletrix Mann (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche 62:82-87.

Taxon Page Author History

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Brown, W. L., 1950:
One worker from Chiapas, soil. Agreeing very well with Mann's description and figure, except that the size is a little larger than Mann's measurements. Mann designated Belonopelta as nominate subgenus to his new subgenusSimopelta . Wheeler later separated the two generically by means of abundant characters. It does not seem to have been noticed that B. deletrix has minute lateral spurs beside the larger medial ones on the middle and posterior tibiae. Specimens of Simopelta jeckylli Mann , Simopelta williamsi Wheeler , and Simopelta manni Wheeler all lack such lateral spurs completely, so this lack may afford an additional generic character.

Specimen Data Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 40 times found in cloud forest, 12 times found in hardwood forest, 12 times found in tropical rainforest, 11 times found in montane wet forest, 10 times found in mesophyll forest, 10 times found in 2º wet forest, 8 times found in tropical wet forest, 6 times found in mature wet forest, 7 times found in tropical moist forest, 6 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods or in the following microhabitats: 80 times MiniWinkler, 59 times MaxiWinkler, 10 times Winkler, 9 times Malaise, 7 times Berlese, 7 times Berlese/Winkler, 7 times Mini Winkler, 5 times Search, 2 times Night MiniWinkler, 1 times Sweeping, 1 times Beating, ...

Elevations: collected from 20 - 2280 meters, 1074 meters average