Two studies have been carried out on the behavior of P. amabilis, based on several captive colonies from La Selva Biologica Station in Costa Rica (Hoelldobler and Wilson 1986, Hoelldobler et al. 1992). The following account is based on those studies:
Colonies are polydomous, occupying many small chambers in dead wood fragments. They may contain over 700 workers, and 1 or 2 reproductive queens (active ovaries, filled spermatheca). Workers all appear capable of producing trophic eggs, which may be the main food of the queen. Workers attack live prey and transport it back to the larvae. When presented with a "cafeteria" of diverse prey types, they strongly prefer campodeid diplurans, but will occasionally take other small arthropods. Workers produce a trail pheromone from specialized glands in the hind basitarsus. They exhibit a characteristic behavior, a rapid up and down vibration, which appears to excite or attract other workers, and they drag their hind legs along the surface, apparently leaving a pheromone trail. These behaviors are used to recruit nestmates when prey is discovered. Workers exhibit a simple temporal caste polyethism, in which young workers attend primarily to brood care, while older workers undertake a broader range of behaviors, including brood care, tending the queen, and foraging. Workers have a "wall-papering" behavior, in which they use cocoon fragments to cover the walls of chambers containing pupae, a behavior thought to aid in keeping the pupal chamber dry. Trophallaxis and adult transport have not been observed, and there appears to be no alarm pheromone (Hoelldobler and Wilson 1986, Hoelldobler et al. 1992).
Honduras to southern Brazil.
Taxonomic history
Ladino & Feitosa, 2020 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4821.2.1 PDF: 214 (q.m.).See also: Brown, 1960a: 217; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1986b: 45; Ladino & Feitosa, 2020 https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4821.2.1 PDF: 213.
