Probolomyrmex

Agosti, D., 1995, A revision of the South American species of the ant genus Probolomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Journal of the New York Entomological Society 102, pp. 429-434 : 432

Genus Probolomyrmex Mayr

Probolomyrmex Mayr, 1901: 2. Type species: Probolomyrmex filiformis Mayr , by monotypy. Taylor, 1965, revision.

Escherichia Forel, 1910: 245. Type species: Escherichia brevirostris Forel , by monotypy. Syn. by Taylor, 1965: 346.

A detailed and illustrated key to the genus is given by Bolton (1994), and a detailed diagnosis of the genus is provided by Taylor (1965). The long and slender body, the brown coloration, the finely or smoothly sculptured surface, the long sting, and foremost the socket-like base of the antennal insertion, unique among the ants, make this genus easily recognizable. Variation among the species is almost limited to changes in shape of the head and scape, the petiole and to a lesser degree, the body sculpture. In the field, the species are recognized by their very fast, straight movements, the stretched out antennae (Fig. 15), and that they are mainly found as singletons.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

(Worker and females)

1 Petiole in lateral view with a ventral, rectangular process (Figs. 7, 8) .......... petiolatus

- Petiole in lateral view with a ventral process directed towards the mesosoma (Figs. 2, 4 - 6) .......................................................................... 2

2 Small body size (TL <0.95 mm), short scape (SI <105). Sculpture fine and densely set (Fig. 14). First gastral segment ventrally without a collar. Head with a bulge along the posterior ventral face, which, in lateral view is not darker than the adjacent surface. Ventral process of petiole in lateral view of the same color as the adjacent tergite .. brujitae

- Larger body size (TL> 0.95 mm), longer scape (SI> 105). Sculpture with large pits with chagrination in between (Fig. 13). First gastral segment ventro-anterior with a distinct collar which is bent ventrally (Figs. 2, 4). Head with a distinct carina along the posterior ventral face, which is darker than the adjacent surface. Ventral process of petiole in lateral view distinctly more darkly colored than the tergite ......... boliviensis