Species: Acromyrmex echinatior   (Forel, 1899) 

Current Valid Name:

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2023)

Distribution:

Distribution Notes:

Mexico to Panama.

Biology:

In Costa Rica this species prefers open dry habitats such as urban areas around San Jose and seasonally dry habitats of Guanacaste Province. I have records of the species from Santa Rosa National Park, Palo Verde, San Jose, and as far south as Quepos, but I never collected any Acromyrmex in the wet forest of the Osa Peninsula during extensive collecting there in the 1980's.

On the nature trail near the headquarters of Santa Rosa National Park I once observed workers carrying cut flower parts up a tree, suggesting that nests may occasionally be arboreal.

Queens multiply mate, and colonies are facultatively polygynous (Bekkevold et al. 1999).

References:

Bekkevold, D., J. Frydenberg, and J. J. Boomsma. 1999. Multiple mating and facultative polygyny in the Panamanian leafcutter ant Acromyrmex echinatior. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 46:103-109.

Schultz, T. R., D. Bekkevold, and J. J. Boomsma. 1998. Acromyrmex insinuator new species: an incipient social parasite of fungus-growing ants. Insectes Sociaux 45:457-471.

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 10 times found in lowland wet forest, 7 times found in tropical rainforest, 1 times found in oak cloud forest, 4 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, 3 times found in 2º wet forest, 3 times found in dry forest, 1 times found in pasture at forest edge, 1 times found in coffee finca, 2 times found in ridgetop cloud forest, 2 times found in 2nd growth rainforest, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 22 times at bait, 2 times column on ground, 6 times beating vegetation, 5 times Malaise trap, 2 times nocturnal foragers, 3 times ex sifted leaf litter, 2 times foraging column, 1 times foragers, 2 times white pan trap, 1 times under stone, 2 times on ground, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 22 times Baiting, 12 times search, 2 times hand collecting, 6 times Beating, 3 times Malaise, 2 times white pan trap, 2 times Malaise trap, 1 times pit fall, 1 times Winkler, 1 times light, 1 times MaxiWinkler, ...

Elevations: collected from 5 - 1700 meters, 500 meters average

Collect Date Range: collected between 1985-07-11 00:00:00.0 and 2021-05-05 00:00:00.0

Type specimens: Lectotype of Acromyrmex echinatior: casent0909421; paralectotype of Acromyrmex echinatior: casent0909422