Species: Solenopsis jtl005

Distribution:

Costa Rica: throughout at mid to lower elevations; wet to dry forest.

Biology:

At La Selva Biological Station this is an abundant species in the leaf litter on the forest floor. Nests can be found in small sticks and other dead wood in the leaf litter, and these nest collections show that the species is strongly polygynous. Workers and dealate queens are present in most Winkler samples.

At Santa Rosa National Park a queen-right nest was found beneath a stone in the Bosque Humedo.

All collections I have seen have been from sea level to 600m elevation.

Notes:

There is unexplained color variability in this species. At La Selva, all nest collections have contained uniformly brown workers, and most workers from Winkler samples are brown. However, there are occasional collections of clear yellow workers that have the same overall morphology. Although there is variability among the brown workers from dark to lighter brown, the yellow workers seem to have a distinct color quality not bridged by intermediates. Material from Winkler samples from the southern Pacific lowlands shows a similar division into two color classes. The workers in the Santa Rosa nest collection are uniformly yellow.

I cannot always tell workers of this species from JTL-027. At La Selva there is a tendancy for the propodeum to be larger and more convex compared to JTL-027, but material from the southern Pacific lowlands has mesosoma shape more like JTL-027. However, queens from the Pacific lowlands match JTL-005.

JTL-001 is an upland version of this species.

Taxon Page Author History

Specimen Data Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 329 times found in mature wet forest, 156 times found in montane wet forest, 108 times found in lowland rainforest, 45 times found in tropical rainforest, 3 times found in SSA, 5 times found in wet forest, 10 times found in wet forest canopy, 5 times found in CES (700.350 GIS), 1 times found in Puesto #02,28G,10m., 2 times found in LOC, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods or in the following microhabitats: 371 times miniWinkler, 116 times Winkler, 137 times Berlese, 114 times Mini Winkler, 11 times Lure/Bait, 5 times Search & Berles, 10 times Fogging, 1 times Berlese sample, 5 times Malaise, 3 times Search, 3 times flight intercept trap, ...

Elevations: collected from 20 - 780 meters, 153 meters average

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