Species: Hypoponera parva

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2013)

Distribution:

Guatemala (type locality), Costa Rica. Costa Rica: throughout the country in wet to moist habitats.

Biology:

Natural History:

This tiny species, the smallest known to me, occurs in a wide variety of habitats throughout Costa Rica. It is common in the lowland rainforest of La Selva and in the cloud forest of Monteverde. Although common in mature forested habitats, it is not restricted to them; I have collected it in Parque Nacional, a small city park in the middle of San Jose! Workers were in some dead wood at the base of a tree, at the edge of a city sidewalk. The species occurs very often in Winkler samples of leaf litter from the forest floor. I rarely collect it by any other means. I once found a nest under loose bark of dead wood, and I once observed workers emerging from under loose bark to recruit to a dead tabanid.

I have seen an ergatoid male of what I assume to be this species, from La Selva Biological Station. It was an isolated specimen from a soil sample, not associated with workers. I associate it with this species due to its small size.

References:

Forel, A. 1909. Ameisen aus Guatemala usw., Paraguay und Argentinien (Hym.). Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1909:239-269.

Taxon Page Author History

Specimen Data Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 198 times found in mature wet forest, 131 times found in montane wet forest, 105 times found in cloud forest, 52 times found in tropical wet forest, 45 times found in tropical rainforest, 40 times found in ridgetop cloud forest, 30 times found in tropical moist forest, 29 times found in mesophyll forest, 21 times found in lowland rainforest, 15 times found in wet forest, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods or in the following microhabitats: 502 times MiniWinkler, 90 times MaxiWinkler, 67 times Winkler, 57 times Berlese, 61 times Mini Winkler, 4 times baiting, 3 times Search, 1 times Malaise, 1 times Night MiniWinkler

Elevations: collected from 20 - 1625 meters, 692 meters average

1 Specimens Imaged | View All 837 Specimens for this species

CASENT0260431

---