Species: Hypoponera opacior

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2013)

Distribution:

Southern half of continental USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Trinidad, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent.

Biology:

Natural History:

The form I call opacior s.s. seems to have a preference for synanthropic and seasonally dry habitats. I have scattered collections from Costa Rica, as follows:

Santa Rosa National Park: in Winkler sample collected by P. S. Ward.

Finca La Pacifica, a dry-forest riparian habitat: in Winkler sample of sifted litter from the forest floor.

Carara Biological Reserve: in Winkler sample collected by P. S. Ward.

Casa Plastico, a 600m elevation wet site on the Atlantic slope, in young second growth at the edge of a pasture: under a mossmat at the base of a tree.

A coffee farm near Heredia in the Central Valley: collected in studies of coffee farm fauna by Ivette Perfecto.

Sirena in Corcovado National Park, a lowland wet forest site: in Winkler sample of sifted litter from the forest floor.

A roadside in Monteverde, where an isolated and epiphyte-laden tree had recently fallen: a nest was under epiphytes near the ground.

La Selva Biological Station, a mature lowland wet forest site: a nest was under epiphytes on a dead branch recently fallen from the canopy.

Fila Cruces near San Vito: a nest was under a stone at the edge of a gravel road through pastures and scrubby forest.

Parque Nacional, a small landscaped park in the middle of San Jose: among a collection of stray foragers.

In contrast, the form JTL-008 I know from La Selva and the adjacent slope of Volcan Barba to about 900m, the Penas Blancas Valley east of Monteverde, and the Wilson Botanical Garden near San Vito. It inhabits mature wet forest, and I usually encounter it in Winkler samples of sifted litter from the forest floor. At La Selva, I collected a nest from beneath the thin, loose bark of some dead wood on the ground.

I tentatively associate an ergatoid male with form JTL-008. It was obtained in a Winkler sample from the Penas Blancas Valley, along with many workers of JTL-008.

Identification:

Worker: head moderately punctate and subopaque; in lateral view petiole relatively slender, with the anterior and posterior faces converging towards the summit.

References:

Bolton, B. 1995. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp.

Forel, A. 1893. Formicides de l'Antille St. Vincent. Recoltees par Mons. H. H. Smith. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 1893:333-418.

Kempf, W. W. 1962. Miscellaneous studies on neotropical ants. II. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Studia Entomol. 5:1-38.

Kempf, W. W. 1972. Catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical. Stud. Entomol. 15:3-344.

Smith, D. R. 1979. Superfamily Formicoidea. Pp. 1323-1467 in: Krombein, K. V., Hurd, P. D., Smith, D. R., Burks, B. D. (eds.) Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico. Volume 2. Apocrita (Aculeata). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. i-xvi, 1199-2209.

Taylor, R. W. 1968. Nomenclature and synonymy of the North American ants of the genera Ponera and Hypoponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomol. News 79:63-66.

Taxon Page Author History

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Data Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 214 times found in mature wet forest, 104 times found in montane wet forest, 51 times found in lowland rainforest, 1 times found in Urban wetland, 4 times found in oak woodland, 1 times found in northern plateau, 2 times found in riparian woodland, 1 times found in west slope shrubland, 1 times found in in dry clay by small spring, 1 times found in SSO, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods or in the following microhabitats: 215 times miniWinkler, 87 times Mini Winkler, 60 times Winkler, 25 times Berlese, 16 times search, 11 times Bay Area Ant Survey (BAAS), 2 times fogging, 1 times flight intercept trap, 1 times yellow pan trap, 1 times malaise trap, 1 times Pine Swamp, ...

Elevations: collected from 5 - 2440 meters, 296 meters average

11 Specimens Imaged | View All 534 Specimens for this species

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