Lachnomyrmex lattkei Feitosa & Brandão, 2008

Feitosa, Rodrigo M. & Brandão, Carlos Roberto F., 2008, A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical myrmicine ant genus Lachnomyrmex Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1890, pp. 1-49 : 21

Lachnomyrmex lattkei Feitosa & Brandão , new species

Figures 7 , 18

Holotype worker. VENEZUELA: Falcón: Petit, cia. La Maletta, Haitoncito, 3.vii.1982, J. Lattke col., no. 275, specimen code CASENT0173879 [ MIZA].

Worker diagnosis. Body covered by fine, relatively sparse, and partially regular rugulation; promesonotum elevated well above propodeum level, in profile; metanotal groove impressed; propodeal spines straight and thin; teeth of propodeal lobes well developed; surface of first gastral tergite entirely devoid of long hairs.

Holotype measurements. HL 0.76; HW 0.72; ML 0.25; SL 0.49; EL 0.16; WL 0.85; PSL 0.21; PL 0.22- 0.39; PPL 0.17; GL 0.99; TL 3.40; CI 96; SI 67; OI 22.

Worker description. Color dark ferruginous, with appendages lighter. Head and mesosoma finely covered by vermiculate and predominantly longitudinal rugae, transverse on anterior portion of pronotum, grading to longitudinal on rest of promesonotum; mesopleura and lateral surfaces of propodeum sparsely covered by irregular rugae; mandibles with few and short longitudinal striae restricted to basal portion; petiole and postpetiole irregularly rugose. Abundant pilosity on head, dorsum of promesonotum and waist; dorsum of petiolar node and postpetiole each with more than 10 long hairs; first tergite of gaster entirely devoid of long flexuous hairs.

Head longer than broad, with vertexal margin gently convex; frontal lobes subquadrate; eyes with about seven facets at greatest diameter. Promesonotum considerably convex in profile, well above propodeum level; metanotal groove relatively broad and deeply impressed; propodeal spines straight and thin; teeth of propodeal lobes well developed, swollen basally, and with little less than the half-length of propodeal spines. Petiolar node only weakly elevated and rounded dorsally, in lateral view; dorsum of postpetiole slightly convex and without a well definite anteroventral projection.

Gyne. Unknown.

Etymology. Species named after its collector, the prominent myrmecologist Dr. John E. Lattke, curator of the MIZA ant collection.

Comments. This species can hardly be confounded with any other in the genus given the body sculpturation pattern and the combination of elevated promesonotum, and the absence of long hairs on the dorsal surface of first gastral tergite.

Lachnomyrmex lattkei is one of the two species in the genus known only from the holotype. The specimen was collected in a leaf litter sample submitted to the Berlese funnel from an 1180m elevation forest in northern Venezuela.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Holotype worker of Lachnomyrmex lattkei from Falcón, Venezuela: A, head in full face view; B, lateral view; C, dorsal view. Image by Michele Esposito, specimen CASENT 0173879.

FIGURE 18. Distribution maps for the Lachnomyrmex species (L. fernandezi, L. grandis, L. laticeps, L. lattkei, L. longinoi, L. pilosus, and L. platynodus).