Zatania cisipa (Smith & Lavigne, 1973) Smith & Lavigne, 1973

John S. Lapolla, Robert J. Kallal & Seán G. Brady, 2012, A new ant genus from the Greater Antilles and Central America, Zatania (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), exemplifies the utility of male and molecular character systems, Systematic Entomology 37, pp. 200-214 : 206

Zatania cisipa (Smith & Lavigne, 1973) , comb.n.

[ Figs 8 – 11 (worker), 22–23 (queen), 24–29 (male)]

Paratrechina (Nylanderia) cisipa, Smith D.R. & Lavigne, 1973: 184 (worker, queen and male described). Holotype worker, Puerto Rico: Luquillo Experimental Forest, El Verde Field Station, 1500 ft, 1 July 1970 (R.J. Lavigne) (USNM) [examined]. LaPolla et al., 2010a: 127, combination in Nylanderia .

Worker diagnosis. Overall brownish yellow, with darker gaster; head with layer of pubescence and distinctly convex eyes; scapes with dense layer of short, slender, decumbent setae; mesosoma with scattered erect setae on pronotum and mesonotum; dorsal face of propodeum gently rounded; gaster with dense layer of pubescence.

Measurements (n = 6): TL 2.50–2.70 mm; HW 0.6– 0.63 mm; HL 0.76–0.78 mm; EL 0.24–0.26 mm; SL 1.00– 1.20 mm; PW 0.46–0.50 mm; WL 1.10–1.33 mm; PrFL 0.83–0.88 mm; PrFW 0.16–0.18 mm; GL 1.22–1.40 mm. Indices: CI 78–81; REL 30–33; SI 154 –176.

Notes. This is the only yellow species known in the genus, and is therefore easy to identify. The yellow coloration is probably an adaptation, reflecting the fact that workers are nocturnal foragers (J.S. LaPolla, personal observation). At El Verde Field Station in Puerto Rico, during the day no workers were ever seen foraging, but at night it was one of the most commonly encountered ant species, often observed in large foraging trails with hundreds of individual workers moving on the forest floor. This appears to be a tree hollow-nesting species, as nests were observed by both Smith & Lavigne (1973) and J.S. LaPolla in living tree hollows at a height of about 1–1.5 m from the ground.