Pheidole tetra Creighton, 2003

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 161

Pheidole tetra Creighton , new status

Pheidole crassicornis subsp. tetra Creighton 1950a: 176, first available use of Pheidole crassicornis subsp. porcula var. tetra Wheeler 1908h: 467, unavailable name (quadrinomial).

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Gr tetra , four, significance unknown.

Diagnosis Very close to crassicornis , from which it differs in the major by its generally abundant pilosity, and diversipilosa , from which it differs in the longer pilosity on the first gastral tergite and abundant hairs on the waist and occiput. Also resembles porcula in various traits as depicted.

Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.34, HL 1.36, SL 0.72, EL 0.20, PW 0.66. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.74, SL 0.74, EL 0.14, PW 0.44. Color Major and minor: concolorous light to dark reddish brown.

Range Known from St. Louis Co., Missouri; Ouachita Mts., Montgomery Co., Arkansas; central and western Texas; and the mountains of southern Arizona at 1280-1580 m.

Biology In the Ouachita Mts. of Arkansas, Stefan Cover (unpublished field notes) found colonies at three localities in open areas of mixed pine-hardwood forest, nesting beneath rocks. At the Pedernales Falls State Park, Blanco Co., Texas, he found two colonies under rocks in grassy clearings, nesting in sandy soil; and in Cochise Co., Arizona, Cover discovered a colony in cottonwood floodplain forest, apparently nesting in open soil. In western Texas, Moody and Francke (1982) found tetra at 400-1600 m, nesting variously under stones and logs and in open soil.

Figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. TEXAS: Austin (W. M. Wheeler). Scale bars = 1 mm.