page_title: Tatuidris
section_title: Pilosity variability
hierarchical_section_title: Tatuidris / Description / Pilosity variability
caption_attribution_description: English: Visual representation of Tatuidris tatusia pilosity patterns. Embedded captions: "Morph A, Long flexuous + short setae, T. Tatusia type; Morph B, Very short setae; Morph C, Abundant, lanose setae; Morph D, Regular spaced, short setae"
context_page_description: Tatuidris, or armadillo ant, is a rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Tatuidris tatusia. The ants are small in size and inhabit the leaf litter of Neotropical forests in Central and South America, from Mexico to Brazil. Workers are ferruginous-colored to dark red and present a distinctive morphology, consisting of a shield-like head with a broad vertex, ventrally-turned heavy mandibles which do not overlap at full closure, and unique among ants – an antenna socket apparatus sitting upside-down. Little is known about the biology of the ants, but they are likely nocturnal and specialist predators.
  Tatuidris was first described in 1968 and initially placed in the myrmicine tribe Agroecomyrmecini, together with two fossil genera. Since the original description, the systematic status of the tribe has been the focus of debate.
context_section_description: Four pilosity patterns (patterns of hair-like setae) are known to occur within Tatuidris collections. Pilosity pattern A consists of a mix of both long flexuous and short appressed setae. This is the most common pilosity pattern and the one that most resembles the type specimens from El Salvador and the gyne from Otongachi, Ecuador. Pilosity pattern B is characterized by very short, fully appressed, and regular spaced setae arrayed homogeneously and equidistantly on the head, mesosoma, petiole, postpetiole and gaster. Pilosity pattern C is characterized by dense lanose-looking setae. Pilosity pattern D consists of short and uniform decumbent (strongly inclined but not fully appressed) setae scattered throughout the body.
caption: Visual representation of Tatuidris pilosity patterns
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