Ecology and Behavior of the Ant Belonopelta Deletrix Mann (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Belonopelta Mayr is a little-known genus of ponerine ants represen.ted by two species, B. attenuata Mayr of Colombia and B. deletrix Mann, the latter hitherto recorded fro,m Honduras and Chiapas (Wheeler, 1935; Brown, 1950). It is of more than usual interest because of the aberrant, presumably raptorial modification of the mandibles. To the present time only several s.pecimens have been mentioned in the literature, and nothing has been recorded concerning its biology. B. deletrix was recently encountered by the present author near the village of Pueblo Nuevo, Veracruz, in the Cosolapa Valley ten miles south of Cosolapa. This record represents a considerable northwestward extension f the range of the genus. The Cosolapa Valley, like most o.f this part of Mexico, is under heavy cultivation, and the native forest is limited to precari,ous sanctuaries on the steep slopes of numerous hills and mountains which rise from the valley floor. Pueblo Nuevo is located in the saddle of a pass through one o,f the lower hill ranges. To the northwest, and across the nearby Cosolapa River, there is a large tract of true rainforest, i.e., a forest in which the trees are several-storied, with a few "emergents" over 100 feet in height, and heavily festooned in the upper reaches by lianas and epiphytes. The upper stratum forms a closed canopy in the undisturbed portions, and herbaceous undergrowth is very sparse. The forest is being continuously high-graded by crude native lumbering methods, and as a result clearings and patches of scrubby second growth occur throughout. The prevalent ant genera in the leaf litter and soil, as indicated by repeated Berlese funnel samples, are Wasmannia, Solenopsis (Diplorhoptrum), Pheidole, Prionopelta, Pyramicus, Neo-