Pheidole oxyops Forel

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press : 212

Pheidole oxyops Forel

Pheidole oxyops Forel 1908h: 377. Syn.: Pheidole genalis Borgmeier 1929: 199, synonymy by Kempf 1964e: 58; Pheidole oxyops subsp. regia Forel 1908h: 378, synonymy by Kempf 1964e: 58.

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

Etymology Gr oxyops , sharp-eyed or sharp-faced, allusion uncertain.

diagnosis A large (major Head Width 1.90 mm), reddish brown member of the diligens group easily distinguished as follows.

Major: head in side view elliptical, tapering equally toward the occiput and clypeus on opposite ends; antennal scape reaches much less than half the distance from eye to occipital corner; in dorsal-oblique view, the two lobes of the pronotum and mesonotal convexity present a profile of three equally spaced convexities, and the propodeal dorsum has a small convexity just anterior to the spine; in side view propodeal spine short, thin, and vertical to propodeal dorsal face; postpetiole from above conulate; no rugoreticulum present anywhere; anterior and parts of lateral margins of pronotum carinulate.

Minor: a neck and nuchal collar present; propodeal spine reduced almost to a denticle.

Measurements (mm) Syntype major: HW 1.92, HL 2.12, SL 1.06, EL 0.30, PW 0.80.

Syntype minor: HW 0.74, HL 1.02, SL 1.24, EL 0.22, PW 0.54.

Color Major and minor: concolorous light brown.

Range Kempf (1972b) and I have recorded oxyops , in addition to the type series from Paraguay, from Salta, northern Argentina, and Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, and Sao Paulo in southeastern and central Brazil.

Biology P. oxyops occurs in cerrado (savanna) and the edges of semideciduous forest. In the region of San Antonio de Posse, Sao Paulo, Fernandes et al. (1994) found the species abundant along the forest edge and in cotton fields. In the latter it was very effective in removing adult boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis) from the ground, accounting in one study period for 90% of the predation due to ants, where predation by ants as a whole destroyed 20% of the weevils. Fernandes et al. use the name P. oliveirai, which I erroneously supplied from an early draft of the manuscript of my monograph; the specimens supplied me and hence the name I erected in manuscript fall under oxyops .

Figure Upper: syntype, major. Lower: syntype, minor. PARAGUAY: San Bernadino (Fiebring). Scale bars = 1 mm.