Subfamily MYRMICINAE
Tribe DACETINI
Pyramica ornata (Mayr)
Pyramica ornata, full face view of worker
(click image to enlarge).
Pyramica ornata, profile view of worker
(click image to enlarge).
Pyramica ornata is a very common Dacetine ant in the Southeast and it is not unusual to find this species in soil and leaf litter in forested areas. P. ornata and P. rostrata appear to be our most common species of Pyramica in both Alabama and Mississippi. P. ornata is easily distinguished from other species of Pyramica by the unique setal arrangement on the clypeus with a series of spatulate tipped long setae radiating outward like a fan from the anterior portion of the clypeus (see full face view above). Only one other species is similar, P. dietrichi, which also has elongate hairs radiating outward from the tip of the clypeus, but the hairs are simple and not spatalute.
Distribution of Pyramica ornata in Mississippi.