Dacatria Rigato

Eguchi, K., Viet, B. T. & Yamane, S., 2011, Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part I - Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmicinae., Zootaxa 2878, pp. 1-61 : 15

Dacatria Rigato , 1994

Taxonomy. The genus Dacatria was established under the tribe Proattini by Rigato (1994b), and was assigned to Stenammini by Bolton (1994, 2003). The worker of the single species in the genus has the following features.

Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subrectangular, with a shallow central longitudinal furrow; preoccipital region forming a distinct carina which surrounds the pronotal neck; frontal lobe well developed and raised; frontal carina and antennal scrobe absent; median portion of clypeus raised, with nearly vertical anterior face; median clypeal seta absent; lateral portion of clypeus modified into a distinct ridge or wall in front of antennal insertion; posteromedian portion of clypeus narrowly inserted between frontal lobes; antenna 12-segmented with indistinct 3-segmented club; eye small, convex well laterad, located before midlength of side of head in full-face view; mandible triangular; masticatory margin of mandible with apical and two preapical teeth, followed by two small teeth (5 teeth in total); promesonotum domed, with a pair of rounded and low humeral tubercles; promesonotal suture absent dorsally; metanotal groove well defined, with a small prominence in front of groove; propodeal spine long; propodeal lobe developed, round; petiole with long peduncle and low node; postpetiole short and high; gastral shoulder absent; sting simple; standing hairs absent from dorsum of body (simple standing hairs present at apex of gaster and on mandible, and slightly clavate hairs on third segment of gaster).

The worker of Dacatria is easily distinguished from that of other myrmicine genera known from Vietnam by the morphology of lateral portion of clypeus and humeral tubercles of the promesonotum.

Vietnamese species. One species is known from Vietnam: templaris Rigato (Pu Mat, Va n Ban).

Bionomics. Dacatria templaris is a ground-dwelling species in well-developed forests, and nests in litter and underground. Wo r k e r s are brick red and dull and are clad in dirt, and similar to Proatta butteli Forel. When their nests are exposed, the cryptic workers freeze for a while, making them very difficult to detect.