New Species and New Records of Strumigenys Smith, 1860 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) from the Neotropical schulzi Species Group Author dos Santos-Neto, Esperidião Alves Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus 45662 - 900, BA, Brazil easneto@uesc.br Author Chaul, Júlio Cezar Mário Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa 36570 - 900, MG, Brazil julio.chaul@ufv.br Author Delabie, Jacques Hubert Charles Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus 45662 - 900, BA, Brazil & Comissão Executiva do Plano da Lavoura Cacaueira, Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau, Laboratório de Mirmecologia, Ilhéus 45600 - 000, BA, Brazil jacques.delabie@agro.gov.br text Taxonomy 2024 New York 2024-08-21 4 3 633 648 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/taxonomy4030032 journal article 301745 10.3390/taxonomy4030032 1512d144-001b-479f-b2fe-5a8dc73bf02e 13378268 217E590F-5F81-4609-814F-11E08EB6FFC1 Strumigenys xoko sp. nov. Santos-Neto, Chaul and Delabie ( Figures 4 and 5 ) Type material . Holotype worker : BRAZIL , Sergipe : Canindé do São Francisco , − 9.635367 , − 37.792324 , 25.v.1997 , Collected from Aechmea aquilega ( Bispo, S.M. ) [ CPDC 5871 , ANTWEB1048665 ]. Paratype queen , BRAZIL , Bahia : Iguaí, 14.643.056, − 40.147.778, 04.vii.2012 (C. Leite & T. Porto et al.) [ CPDC 5780, ANTWEB1048666] . Diagnosis . Basal lamella of mandible triangular, without diastema between it and masticatory margin; eyes large, with 20 ommatidia in total; broad flattened scapes; stand pilosity narrowly remiform, ground pilosity of spatulate setae; petiole and postpetiole entirely reticulate-punctate in dorsal view, first gastral tergite entirely thinly striated, with basigastral costulae shorter than a third of postpetiole disc length. Geographical Distribution . Brazil (Bahia and Sergipe) ( Figure 2 ) Description. Worker . HW 0.43, ML 0.12, ML2 0.25, HL 0.59, SL 0.25, OL 0.08, ON 20, WL 0.53, PetL 0.26, A3+A4L 0.65, Prw 0.36, DPetW 0.16, DPetndL 0.12, PosPetW 0.25, PosPetL 0.15, GW 0.51, MtfmL 0.39, MttbL 0.3, CI 73, SI 58, MI 22, TL 2.16. (n = 1). Head . In full-face view, head longer than wide; occipital margin concave, meeting the vertex corners in mild indentations ( Figure 4 A ); anterior clypeal margin slightly convex; sides gradually diverging posteriorly to the eyes. Mandible triangular, small; basal lamella subtriangular; masticatory margin with 12 teeth, the first originating without a diastemic gap between it and the basal lamella; teeth 1–5 sharp; teeth 1, 2, 4 and 5 subequal, tooth 3 largest; teeth 6 and 7 smaller than the previous; teeth 8-11 reduced denticles, tooth 12, the apical, sharp. Clypeus projecting over base of mandibles. Antennae 6-segmented. Scape broad, dorsoventrally strongly compressed; its anterior margin with three robust spatulate hairs followed by finer spoon-shaped hairs, most of them curved towards its base. Head entirely reticulate-punctate. Ground pilosity composed of subspatulate, appressed hairs; vertex with two pairs of erect setae, remiform, visibly larger than the ground pilosity of the head; apicoscrobal setae subspatulate, shorter in length to the vertex setae. Mesosoma . Entire mesosoma, dorsally and laterally densely reticulate-punctate, without any smooth areas ( Figure 5 B ). Pronotal humeral pair of setae filiform; mesonotal pair of standing setae absent; ground pilosity on dorsum of mesosoma composed sub spatulated semi-appressed setae, and three pairs of remiform. Metanotal impression forms a shallow groove. Propodeal spine is sharp, long and mostly fused to its subtended lamella, which is large and has a concave posterior margin ( Figure 4 B ). Legs reticulate-punctate, with hairs finer than those on mesonotum and head. Metasoma . In lateral view, the petiole node is subquadrate, slightly higher than long; in dorsal view, wider than long; anterior margin broader than posterior, reticulate-punctate. Spongiform tissue on petiole ventrally absent, dorsally with a thin fringe on node posterior edge. Postpetiole, in lateral view, with well-developed ventral spongiform tissue; in dorsal view, dorsal edge with a few fringes, not laterally projected. Postpetiole disc reticulate-punctate. Dorsum of the metasoma covered with remiform setae. First gastral tergite entirely striated, with superimposed basigastral costulae shorter than a third of postpetiole disc length, ( Figure 4 C ). Figure 4. Strumigenys schulzi specimens; head in full face view( A ), Lateral view ( B )., specimen collected in Una, Bahia, Brazil. Head in full-face view ( C ). Lateral view ( D )., specimen collected in Trinidad. [CASENT0281996]. Scale bars are 0.2 mm.. Available at AntWeb.org. Queen . HW 0.49, ML 0.13, ML2 0.25, HL 0.67, SL 0.33, OL 0.15, WL 0.76, PetL 0.46, A3+A4L 0.94, Prw 0.42, DPetW 0.21, DPetndL 0.11, PosPetW 0.32, PosPetL 0.15, GW 0.63, MtfrL 0.5, MttbL 0.35. (n = 1). Similar to the worker except for differences typical of the reproductive caste: larger total length, larger compound eyes, presence of three ocelli; larger mesosoma, with small smooth patch on lower mesopleuron and numerous stand setae on mesoscutum and mesoscutellum ( Figure 6 ). Etymology . The specific epithet refers to the Brazilian indigenous Xokó people, who live on São Pedro Island in the São Francisco River, in the Brazilian state of Sergipe, close to where the type specimen was collected. Biology . Little can be inferred about the biology of this ant based on the available material. The holotype was collected at the base of an Aechmea bromeliad, suggesting that, like other species within the schulzi species group, this ant prefers nesting in contact with plants. Comments . The dentition pattern of S. xoko looks like S. schulzi , S. castanea , S. orchibia and S. metrix . S. xoko can be easily identified because, among similar species, it is the only one that has first gastral tergite entirely striated. ( Figure 4 C ), ( Table 1 ).