Pheidole risii HNS Forel

Pheidole risii HNS Forel 1892a: 38. Raised to species level in this monograph: rugatula HNS, trachyderma HNS.

Types Mus. Hist. Nat. Geneve; Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Named after the collector, Fr. Ris.

diagnosis Similar in various traits to aper HNS, bambusarum HNS, brevicona HNS, dyctiota HNS, laeviventris HNS, lutzi HNS, rugatula HNS, senilis HNS, sigillata HNS, trachyderma HNS, and traini HNS, differing as follows.

Major: shallow antennal scrobes; pilosity along dorsal profile of head dense, with uniform short hairs about as long as Eye Length along the posterior half and much longer hairs along the anterior half; occipital cleft deep; occipital lobes smooth and subangulate; pronotum sparsely carinulate, mostly smooth; propodeal spine very stout, equilaterally triangular; postpetiolar node very broad, 2X broader than petiolar node, and spinose.

Minor: occiput, humeri, and propodeal dorsum rugoreticulate; almost all of head and mesosoma foveolate; occiput broad, concave, and lacking nuchal collar.

Measurements (mm) Syntype major: HW 0.96, HL 1.02, SL 0.44, EL 0.12, PW 0.54. Syntype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.66, SL 0.62, EL 0.12, PW 0.44. color Major: body reddish yellow except for gaster, which is yellowish brown. Minor: concolorous dark yellow.

Range In addition to the type locality, risii HNS has been recorded from Sao Paulo, Brazil (Kempf 1972b).

Biology Unknown.

Figure Upper: syntype, major. Lower: syntype, minor. ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires (Fr. Ris). Scale bars = 1 mm.