Tiputini Pyramica and Strumigenys

Next up are the lovely Dacetine ants Pyramica and Strumigenys. I've always liked these buggers because they are so bizarre looking and fierce. I liked them even more when I realized that the key in Bolton was no longer correct and many genera such as Glamyromyrmex, Trichoscapa, Dorisidris, Smithistruma, Quadristruma, and Neostruma no longer existed and had been folded into one of the above two genera, which made my life a lot easier when sorting to genus. Sorting to species was a whole different thing, though, and I had a lot of trouble. I received a bunch of help from Minsheng Wang, who sorted all of my Dacetines into morphospecies, and then from Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo, who put names on them. The end result is: 12 Pyramica species and 10 Strumigenys species, plus 2 unidentified Strumigenys males:

Pyramica beebei

Pyramica decipula

Pyramica denticulata

Pyramica depressiceps

Pyramica eggersi

Pyramica epinotalis

Pyramica glenognatha

Pyramica metopia

Pyramica subedentata

Pyramica urrhobia

Pyramica villiersi

Pyramica zeteki

Strumigenys cosmostela

Strumigenys dolichognatha

Strumigenys incuba

Strumigenys perparva

Strumigenys precava

Strumigenys smithii

Strumigenys tococae

Strumigenys trinidadensis

Strumigenys trudifera

Strumigenys vilhenai

A few interesting collection notes:

• The most common Dacetine species by far was P. denticulata, followed by P. eggersi and S. trudifera.
• Strumigenys vilhenai specimens were all collected in the canopy.
• Strumigenys trudifera specimens were all collected with Winklers.
• Strumigenys trinidadensis specimens were collected equally from Winkler traps and canopy fogging.
• A single specimen of Strumigenys tococae was collected from the canopy.
• Strumigenys perparva specimens were all collected with Winklers.
• Strumigenys cosmostela specimens were all collected from Winklers.
• A single specimen of Strumigenys incuba was hand collected in the leaf litter.
• All specimens of Pyramica beebei, Pyramica decipula, Pyramica subedentata, Pyramica urrhobia, Pyramica villiersi, and Pyramica zeteki were collected solely with Winklers.
• Pyramica epinotalis specimens were all collected from the canopy.
• Pyramica denticulata was collected using many different methods including Winkler traps, pitfall traps, and hand collecting.
• Pyramica eggersi was also collected using several different methods including Winkler traps, canopy fogging, and hand collection.
• A single specimen of Pyramica glenognatha was hand collected foraging.

I have updated the relevant pages on my website:
Pyramica
Strumigenys