A New Ant Species of Strumigenys Smith, 1860 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Strumigenys is one of the largest genera of ants, and one of the few which has received relatively recent global taxonomic treatment at the species level. Despite this, many new species continue to be found in most biogeographic regions. Strumigenys flavianae sp. nov. is described based on material collected in Viçosa, in the state of Minas Gerais, among secondary growth remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Three workers of this new taxon are known, and the lack of additional specimens in the main ant collections harboring Atlantic Forest ants indicates its rarity. Strumigenys flavianae can be differentiated from all Neotropical Strumigenys for its overall slenderness, flagellate and wire-like pilosity, extremely long head, large and medially notched subpetiolar spongiform tissue and a mostly reticulate pleura. The new species is distinct from all other species found in the Atlantic Forest. It has similarities to some Amazonian species in the hyphata-group (S. cincinnata and S. hyphata) and the probatrix-group (S. doryceps), while still having significant differences relative to both. Therefore, a new species group was created to account for the new species.