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Strumigenys elongata_cf

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

Distribution:

(based on species list records)
Nearctic Region: Puebla
Neotropical Region: Alajuela, Alta Verapaz, Americas, Aragua, Argentina, Atlántida, Barinas, Belize, Boaco, Bolivia, Bolívar, Brazil, Canindeyú, Caribbean, Central America, Chiapas, Chiquimula, Chontales, Colombia, Comayagua, Cortés, Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, Costa Rica, Darién, Ecuador, El Progreso, El Salvador, Gracias a Dios, Guadeloupe, Guanacaste, Guatemala, Guyana, Heredia, Honduras, Huehuetenango, Islas de la Bahía, Izabal, Jinotega, Limón, Magdalena, Masaya, Matagalpa, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mexico, Minas Gerais, Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia, Oaxaca, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Panama, Paraguay, Pará, Peru, Petén, Puntarenas, San José, San Salvador, Santa Catarina, South America, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Veracruz, Zacapa

Distribution Notes:

Southern Mexico to Bolivia and southeastern Brazil. Costa Rica: common in all lowland sites; absent from wet montane forest.

Biology:

Brown and Wilson (1959) summarize the genus as follows:

"Widespread in tropics and warm temperate areas. Primarily forest-dwelling; some species occur in grassland and arid scrub. ... Nests mostly in soil and rotting wood; a few species live in arboreal plant cavities in tropical rain forest. Foraging hypogaeic to epigaeic-arboreal. Food: most species are collembolan feeders; a few are polyphagous predators or occasionally feed on sugary substances..."

Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a kinetic mode of attack (Bolton 1999).

elongata is one of the most common Strumigenys species in forested habitats of Costa Rica. It occurs in dry and wet forests. It may nest on the forest floor in dead wood or under stones, or under epiphytes in the canopy. Brown (1954, 1962) reports that it is definitely a collembolan feeder.

Comments:

Longino notes, 9 Nov 2013: In Central America, Strumigenys elongata, pariensis, spathula, and morphospecies JTL022 form a single DNA barcoding cluster with subclusters. Strumigenys elongata occurs as two clusters with 3-5% sequence difference but the specimens are broadly sympatric and no morphological correlate was found. JTL022 is 2 specimens from one miniWinkler, Cerro Cahuí, Guatemala. It is small, has short propodeal spines, short mandibles, large elongate femoral glands, and thickened but coachwhip-like gastral setae like pariensis. Strumigenys spathula is morphologically distinct but has discordant DNA barcode data. A Chiapas specimen and a Cerro Cahuí specimen of spathula are distant by DNA barcode, about 5% sequence divergence, but look the same. The Cerro Cahui specimen clusters closer to a Nicaraguan specimen of pariensis.

References:

Bolton, B. 1999. Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33:1639-1689.

Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini, with a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malagasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65:1-1028.

Brown, W. L., Jr. 1954(1953). The neotropical species of the ant genus Strumigenys Fr. Smith: Group of elongata Roger. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 61:189-200.

Brown, W. L., Jr. 1962. The neotropical species of the ant genus Strumigenys Fr. Smith: Synopsis and keys to the species. Psyche 69:238-267.

Brown, W. L., Jr., Wilson, E. O. 1959. The evolution of the dacetine ants. Quarterly Review of Biology 34:278-294.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 175 times found in tropical rainforest, 93 times found in mature wet forest, 63 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, 53 times found in tropical moist forest, 51 times found in montane wet forest, 48 times found in 2º wet forest, 39 times found in tropical wet forest, 37 times found in lowland rainforest, 38 times found in 2º lowland tropical rainforest, 25 times found in 2º tropical rainforest, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 730 times ex sifted leaf litter, 39 times Hojarasca, 1 times Bosque Primario, Suelo, 4 times sifted litter, 1 times Primary forest. Ex sifted leaf litter. Short connecting trail between La Selva's, 2 times Hojarasca., 2 times epiphytic material, Virola koschnyi, 2 times epiphytic material, Pentaclethra macroloba, 3 times Cerca de; Cañon del rio Peje hacia Cascante, 2 times Wet forest. Ex sifted leaf litter., 2 times leaf litter, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 534 times MiniWinkler, 139 times MaxiWinkler, 70 times Winkler, 30 times Berlese, 28 times Mini Winkler, 5 times Night MiniWinkler, 5 times search, 0 times Epigaeic winkler, 0 times Winkler of rotten log, 2 times Maxi Winkler, 0 times Pitfall, ...

Elevations: collected from 10 - 1350 meters, 301 meters average

Type specimens: syntype of Strumigenys imitator: casent0900445, casent0915691; type of Strumigenys elongata: focol2162

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