THE TRINIDAD CAVE ANT EREBOMYRMA 
( — SPELAEOMYRMEX ) URICHI (WHEELER), WITH 
A COMMENT ON CAVERNICOLOUS ANTS 
IN GENERAL* 
By Edward O. Wilson 
The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University 
In 1922 W. M. Wheeler described a new pheidologetonine ant, 
Spelaeomyrmex urichl, which he regarded as allied to Erebomyrma 
but sufficiently removed to justify the erection of a separate genus. 
The eleven syntypes, all minor workers, were collected in “Guacharo 
Cave,” Trinidad, occupied by the oil-bird or “guacharo” ( Steatornis 
caripensis Elumboldt). Their pale color, minute eyes, and long bristly 
pilosity suggested to Wheeler that they represent a truly cavernicolous, 
i.e. troglobitic, species. In addition, Wheeler speculated that “the 
Texan E. longi Wheeler, which is certainly subterranean and has 
been taken only once (during a nuptial flight), is really a cavernicolous 
ant.” In 1938, however, Wheeler reported the collection of workers 
of Spelaeomyrmex urichl by P. J. Darlington from leafmold in Cuba, 
thereby casting doubt on the status of the species as a troglobite. 
Certainly no more likely troglobite than S. urichl has been found 
among the ants. Further information on its biology has promised to 
be of exceptional interest. In the course of field work in Trinidad in 
1961, the present author undertook to rediscover the species. The first 
problem was to find the type locality. No fewer than six caves in 
various parts of the island harbor the guacharo and could correctly 
be called “Guacharo Cave.” The itinerary of the collector, the late 
Prof. F. M. Urich, was not known. After the author had visited one 
cave, on the Spring Hill Estate, without success, Dr. David Snow, 
who was conducting an ecological study of the guacharos, suggested 
the Oropouche Cave, near Cumaca, as the most likely locality. A 
single visit to this cave, on April 18, resulted in the immediate finding 
of two colonies of Spelaeomyrmex. Later, a surprising discovery was 
made: a colony collected from savanna forest at Bernhardsdorp, Suri- 
nam, in March 1961 and first identified as Erebomyrma, was on second 
examination determined to be conspecific with Spelaeomyrmex urichl . 
These findings have shed new light on the generic distinctness of 
* Manuscript received by the editor January 9, 1962. 
62 
