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Subfamily MYRMICINAE
Tribe ATTINI
Strumigenys laevinasis M. R. Smith
Strumigenys laevinasis, full face view of worker (click photo to enlarge).
Strumigenys laevinasis, full face view of worker (click photo to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/
Strumigenys laevinasis, side view of worker (click photo to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/
Strumigenys laevinasis is in the clypleata group. Some characteristics of the clypeata group are: mandibles either serially dentate or with a small gap between basal lamella and basal tooth; clypeus with anterior margin convex in full face view and straight to feebly convex on lateral margins; a peripheral groove found along edge of the clypeus that gives a bimarginate appearance (not always obvious, stronger in some members of the group than others); lateral clypeal margins with a fringe of simple to spatulate hairs that curve anteriorly or anterolaterally; leading edge of scape with all hairs directed toward apex of scape; and pronotal humeral hair long and flagellate. This species looks a lot like S. pilinasis, but the hairs on the margins of the clypeus are simple; in S. pilinasis, the hairs on the clypeus are all narrowly linear-spatulate or flattened and spatulate in apical half and truncate apically. Strumigenys ohioensis is also similar looking, but the hairs on the clypeal margins are J-shaped.
Distribution map of Strumigenys laevinasis in Mississippi.