Crematogaster ampla Forel, 1912

Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex & Molina-Moreira, Natalia, 2025, A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1), pp. 1-16 : 5

Crematogaster ampla Forel, 1912 ( Fig. 5 )

Identification: C. ampla differs from C. crinosa , C. rochai, and C. torosa in that those three lack longitudinal striation on both sides of the propodeum and the anterior part of its face ( Pedraza and Fernández, 2019). Additionally, C. ampla has a smooth and shiny subtriangular impression on the fourth abdominal tergite, contrasting with the surrounding sculpture ( Longino, 2003).

Comments: Highly territorial, inhabiting low vegetation ( Powell et al., 2014). Found from Panama to southern Brazil (AntWeb, 2023). This is the first record of this species in Ecuador, 700 km away from the nearest previous report. Cases of social parasitism by Cephalotes specularis have been documented, as it follows the pheromone trail left by C. ampla workers to take over their food source ( Brandão et al., 2014).

Figures

Figure 5 Crematogaster ampla. a) lateral view, b) full face view, and c) dorsal view of worker.Images by Michael Basantes and Michael Caterino.Scale 0.5 mm.