Cyphomyrmex foxi Andre

Snelling, R. R. & Longino, J. T., 1992, Revisionary notes on the fungus-growing ants of the genus Cyphomyrmex, rimosus-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)., Insects of Panama and Mesoamerica: selected studies., Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 479-494 : 487

Cyphomyrmex foxi Andre

(Fig. 30.33)

Cyphomyrmex foxi Andre , 1892:55-6; [[worker]] Wheeler, 1917:461- 2; 9. Weber, 1940: 408-09, 412; [[worker]]. Kempf, 1966: 164, 186-8;[[worker]].

This species is known only from Jamaica and is one of the more distinctive species of Cyphomyrmex , being one of the few known species in the rimosus group in which the breadth of the frontal lobes is less than the distance between the inner margins of the eyes. In this respect it is approached by C. podargus , described below, but in that species the width of the frontal lobes equals or slightly exceeds the interocular distance. The two differ, moreover, in that the dorso-lateral lobes of the post-petiole are elevated and somewhat spine-like in profile in C. foxi (Fig. 30.33), while they are low, rounded, and inconspicuous in C. podargus (Fig. 30.16).

There are four cotypes of C. foxi in the Paris Museum and they are in agreement with the interpretations of Wheeler (1917) and subsequent authors. One ofthe four cotypes has been marked as the Lectotype; the three remaining cotypes are paralectotypes and all are in the MNHN, Paris. Apparently the only known specimens other than the types are the series of workers collected by C.T. Brues at Newton, 3000 ft. elev., Jamaica, January, 1912. Specimens from this collection are in a number of institutional collections.

Weber (1940) suggested that C. rimosus var. arnoldi Aguayo , 19 32, is a synonym of C. foxi ; we do not agree with Weber's classification. Presumably, Aguayo treated his form as a variety of C. rimosus (actually C. minutus ) because it closely resembled that species, with which he surely was quite familiar, inasmuch as it is the common Cyphomyrmex species found throughout the Caribbean. On the other hand, C. foxi , known only from Jamaica, is a much larger and more coarsely sculptured ant and does not at all superficially resemble C. minutus . Since Aguayo did not mention any of the numerous differences that exist between C. foxi and C. minutus in his description, but mentioned only superficial differences between var. arnoldi and C. 'rimosus', we think it much more likely that var. arnoldi is, in fact, a synonym of C. minutus .