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Species: Belonopelta deletrix   Mann, 1922 


Classification:
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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

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

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:

(based on species list records)
Neotropical Region: Alta Verapaz, Americas, Atlántida, Baja Verapaz, Central America, Chiapas, Colombia, Comayagua, Cortés, Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, Costa Rica, Francisco Morazán, Gracias a Dios, Guatemala, Guatemala, Heredia, Honduras, Izabal, Jinotega, Limón, Matagalpa, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia, Oaxaca, Olancho, Petén, Puntarenas, Quiché, Sacatepéquez, San José, Suchitepéquez, Veracruz, Zacapa

Distribution Notes:

Mexico to Costa Rica.

Biology:

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.

Comments:

Longino and Boudinot notes, 9 Nov 2013: Morphology and DNA barcoding data show this to be a complex of cryptic species.

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.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Treatment Citation: Brown, W. L., 1950, Morphological, taxonomic and other notes on ants., Wasmann Journal of Biology 8, pp. 241-250

Belonopelta deletrix Mann.HNS

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 BelonopeltaHNS as nominate subgenus to his new subgenus SimopeltaHNS. Wheeler later separated the two generically by means of abundant characters. It does not seem to have been noticed that B. deletrixHNS has minute lateral spurs beside the larger medial ones on the middle and posterior tibiae. Specimens of Simopelta jeckylli MannHNS, Simopelta williamsi WheelerHNS, and Simopelta manni WheelerHNS all lack such lateral spurs completely, so this lack may afford an additional generic character.

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 40 times found in cloud forest, 17 times found in tropical rainforest, 11 times found in tropical wet forest, 10 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, 11 times found in 2º wet forest, 11 times found in montane wet forest, 10 times found in mesophyll forest, 11 times found in hardwood forest, 7 times found in mature wet forest, 10 times found in tropical moist forest, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 167 times ex sifted leaf litter, 39 times Malaise trap, 6 times Hojarasca, 2 times forest litter, 2 times ex sifted litter, 1 times under stone, 1 times flight intercept trap, 1 times beating vegetation, 1 times Wet forest. Ex sifted leaf litter., 1 times wet forest litter, 1 times Sobre Vegetacion, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 85 times MiniWinkler, 62 times MaxiWinkler, 41 times Malaise, 14 times Winkler, 7 times Berlese, 7 times Mini Winkler, 5 times Search, 5 times Berlese/Winkler, 2 times Night MiniWinkler, 1 times Sweeping, 1 times Beating, ...

Elevations: collected from 20 - 2280 meters, 940 meters average

Type specimens:



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