Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)
Overview:
A cryptic inhabitant of forest floor leaf litter and rotten wood; endemic to Antillean islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica.
Distribution:
(based on species list records)
Neotropical Region: Americas,
Caribbean,
Dominica,
Guadeloupe,
Montserrat
Distribution Notes:
Guadeloupe, Dominica.
Biology:
Octostruma lutzi is an island species endemic to Dominica and Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles. The syntypes were collected "sifting leaves in forest and among bananas and tree-ferns along the edge of it." (Wheeler, 1913). On Guadeloupe, it occurs from sea level to 800 m elevation, in a variety of forested habitats including wet and seasonal dry forest, mahogany plantation, and cloud forest. All Guadeloupe specimens are from Winkler samples of sifted litter and rotten wood from the forest floor. Dealate queens often occur together with workers in litter samples.
Identification:
With the characters of the
O. balzani group; mesosoma typically with two pairs spatulate setae, one on pronotum and one on mesonotum (pronotal setae lacking in all other
balzani-group species except
O. batesi and
O. betschi); posterolateral margin of head subequal to or longer than anterolateral margin (posterolateral margin shorter than anterolateral margin in
O. batesi and
O. betschi); color dark brown on Guadeloupe.
Comments:
The original syntype series of
O. lutzi contained both
O. lutzi (one of which was designated lectotype in Brown and Kempf, 1960) and
Eurhopalothrix guadeloupensis. Wheeler's description of
O. lutzi pertains to
O. lutzi for the most part, but the description of pilosity better fits the
Eurhopalothrix worker. The identity of the described queen remains uncertain.
The degree to which the Dominica and Guadeloupe populations are differentiated is poorly known. Examined workers from Dominica (the MCZC type series of O. lutzi) have distinctly narrower heads than workers from Guadeloupe (CI 102–104 vs. 107–109). The Dominica workers are light orange brown and the Guadeloupe workers are dark brown, but the former are also over 100 years old and may have faded.
Specimen Habitat Summary
Found most commonly in these habitats: 6 times found in wet cloud forest, 4 times found in montane forest, 4 times found in wet trop. forest, 2 times found in wet forest, 1 times found in peak, montane forest, 1 times found in old coffee forest, 1 times found in peak, dry montane forest, 1 times found in deciduous forest, 1 times found in mixed montane forest, 1 times found in littoral scrub, ...
Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 24 times ex sifted leaf litter.
Collected most commonly using these methods: 24 times Winkler.
Elevations: collected from 15 - 850 meters, 613 meters average
Type specimens: Lectotype Octostruma lutzi: mcz-ent00303378
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