My collections of this species have all been individuals captured on tree trunks and low vegetation. The workers are very fast and difficult to capture. They have a powerful sting.
In Costa Rica, I have seen collections from Corcovado National Park, Curu Wildlife Reserve on the Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Rosa National Park, and the La Selva Biological Station in the Atlantic lowlands.
This species exhibits a remarkable diversity of reproductive strategies (Schilder et al. 1999, Heinze and Hoelldobler 1995). Morphologically there are regular alate queens, regular workers, and a range of intercastes between them. Males occur but are rare. Morphological queens occur in some colonies, but are not regularly present. In queenless colonies, unmated workers can produce new workers, queens, and males by parthenogenesis. Workers may also be inseminated, and thus possibly reproduce sexually. In spite of the potentially clonal structure of such colonies, workers exhibit agonistic interactions and dominance hierarchies, and usually one individual, often an unmated worker, is reproductively dominant.
Florida, Mexico, West Indies, Central America.
Taxonomic history
Forel, 1893j PDF: 358 (q.); Wheeler, 1905c PDF: 81 (l.).Combination in Ponera (Pachycondyla): Roger, 1861a PDF: 8.Combination in Platythyrea: Roger, 1863a PDF: 173; Roger, 1863b PDF: 17.Status as species: Roger, 1861a PDF: 8; Roger, 1863b PDF: 17, 47; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 442; Mayr, 1886c PDF: 359; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 27; Forel, 1901k PDF: 335; Wheeler, 1905c PDF: 80, 120; Wheeler, 1908a PDF: 123; Wheeler, 1908b PDF: 159; Wheeler, 1908h PDF: 401; Forel, 1909a PDF: 242; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 561; Emery, 1911e PDF: 30; Wheeler, 1911a PDF: 21; Wheeler, 1911b PDF: 168; Forel, 1912d PDF: 35; Wheeler, 1913b PDF: 481; Wheeler, 1913e PDF: 239; Wheeler & Mann, 1914 PDF: 7; Mann, 1916 PDF: 403 (in key); Mann, 1920b PDF: 404; Mann, 1922 PDF: 7; Borgmeier, 1923: 53; Wheeler, 1923d PDF: 3; Menozzi & Russo, 1930 PDF: 150; Santschi, 1931d PDF: 265; Wheeler, 1936c PDF: 195; Smith, 1937 PDF: 824; Borgmeier, 1937b PDF: 219; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 34; Smith, 1951c PDF: 783; Brown, 1957e PDF: 229; Smith, 1958c PDF: 110; Kempf, 1964a PDF: 141; Wilson, 1964b PDF: 4; Smith, 1967a PDF: 346; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 206; Alayo, 1974 PDF: 30; Brown, 1975 PDF: 9, 54; Smith, 1979: 1336; Deyrup et al., 1989 PDF: 93; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 371; Bolton, 1995b: 336; Deyrup, 2003 PDF: 46; Mackay et al., 2008 PDF: 209; Branstetter & Sáenz, 2012 PDF: 263; Feitosa, 2015c: 99; Wetterer et al., 2016 PDF: 16; Deyrup, 2017: 32; Fernández & Guerrero, 2019 PDF: 513; Lubertazzi, 2019 10.3099/MCZ-43.1 PDF: 155.Senior synonym of Platythyrea cineracea: Kempf, 1964a PDF: 141; Brown, 1975 PDF: 9; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 371; Bolton, 1995b: 337.Senior synonym of Platythyrea pruinosa: Forel, 1901k PDF: 335; Wheeler, 1908a PDF: 123; Wheeler, 1908h PDF: 401; Kempf, 1964a PDF: 141; Brown, 1975 PDF: 9; Smith, 1979: 1336; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 371; Bolton, 1995b: 337.
Platythyrea punctata is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.[1][2][3]
Platythyrea punctata is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.
