Abstract
The taxonomy and natural history of the ant genus Adelomyrmex Emery is reviewed for the Central American region. Theyare small, litter-inhabiting ants most often collected in Berlese and Winkler samples. Although the genus and its relativeshave a pantropical distribution, Central American cloud forests are the only places where they are abundant and diverse.Several Adelomyrmex species are mountain-top endemics with very restricted ranges, and climate change clearly posesthe threat of mountain-top extinction. The 21 Mexican and Central American species are treated in some detail and a keyto the 26 mainland New World species is provided. Nine new species are described, eight from Mexico and Central Amer-ica (A. anxiocalor sp. nov., A. bispeculum sp. nov., A. dentivagans sp. nov., A. marginodus sp. nov., A. metzabok sp. nov.,A. nortenyo sp. nov., A. paratristani sp. nov., and A. quetzal sp. nov.) and one from the oceanic Isla del Coco in the easternPacific (A. coco sp. nov.). New synonymy is proposed for Adelomyrmex tristani (Menozzi, 1931) (= A. brevispinosus Fernández, 2003, syn. nov.).References
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