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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2023)

// Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Americas: Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Nicaragua, Panama
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Neotropical

Distribution Notes:

Costa Rica (type locality), Panama, Jamaica, Cuba, Grenada. Costa Rica: Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.

Biology:

Natural History:

I know this species from La Selva Biological Station and from Sirena in Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. At La Selva I know it from stray workers and males at blacklights. At Sirena I observed a colony or colony fragment. A tight column of 39 adults was moving along a trail. They stopped at one point, the column broke up, and individuals ran madly about in a small area. After about 10 minutes of this a less well defined column moved 1m away to a spot under a Cecropia leaf. They were carrying pupae and large larvae, and one worker was missing the gaster.

Notes:

The type locality of punctaticeps is Jimenez, a site near present-day Guapiles, in the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica.

I used to call this species ambigua Santschi, and a different species (JTL-007) punctaticeps. John Lattke examined the types and concluded that ambigua was a junior synonym of punctaticeps, and the species I used to call punctaticeps was undescribed.

References:

Emery, C. 1890. Voyage de M. E. Simon au Venezuela (Decembre 1887 - Avril 1888). Formicides. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (6)10:55-76.

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 22 times found in rainforest, 13 times found in mature wet forest, 7 times found in montane wet forest, 2 times found in wet forest, 1 times found in montane wet forest, small patch at edge of road, probably 2ndary, Vachelia with Pseudomryemx ants presnt in understory, 1 times found in CCL 237, east 3m, 2 times found in lowland rainforest, 1 times found in montane wet forest, along ridge leading to stream, oak trees, near pasture, 1 times found in riparian rainforest, small strip of 2nd growth at side of river, bordering an old Cacao plantation with very open understory, lots of Vachelia ant plants in understory, 1 times found in second growth rain forest, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 19 times Malaise trap, 14 times ex sifted leaf litter, 3 times Hojarasca, 2 times bajo de M/03, 1 times under stone, 1 times nest in ground, 1 times flight intercept trap, 1 times ex dead wood, 1 times column on ground, 1 times bajo de M/17, 1 times arboretum; strays. Sericomyrmex probably all from one nest., ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 22 times Malaise, 10 times miniWinkler, 5 times search, 4 times flight intercept trap, 3 times maxiWinkler, 4 times Pitfall, 3 times Mini Winkler, 2 times Winkler, 1 times trapped in tent, 1 times yellow pan trap.

Elevations: collected from 10 - 800 meters, 181 meters average

Collect Date Range: collected between 1930-06-02 00:00:00.0 and 2020-01-27 00:00:00.0

Type specimens: Lectotype of Leptogenys punctaticeps: casent0903970; syntype of Leptogenys ambigua: casent0915213

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