Pheidole pugnax Dalla Torre
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publication ID |
20017 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6275783 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E9E74969-AE26-EC82-B0F0-148AA764ACEF |
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treatment provided by |
Donat |
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scientific name |
Pheidole pugnax Dalla Torre |
| status |
new status |
Pheidole pugnax Dalla Torre HNS , new status
Pheidole radoszkowskii subsp. pugnax Dalla Torre HNS 1892: 91. Replacement name forP. militaris Emery HNS 1890c: 49, ajunior primary homonym ofP. militaris F. Smith HNS 1860a: 74.
Types Mus. Civ. Hist. Nat. Genova; Nat. Mus. Nat. Hist. U. S.
Etymology L pugnax HNS , combative.
Diagnosis A member of the diligens HNS group very similar to the more widespread radoszkowskii HNS , as well as diligens HNS , and distinguished as follows.
Major: promesonotal dorsum hairy; space between eye and antennal fossa rugoreticulate; carinulae of frontal lobes extend posteriorly beyond eye level only about a single Eye Length; all of dorsal surface of head except frontal triangle and all of mesosoma and waist foveolate and opaque; three-fourths to all of central strip of first gastral tergite and the posterior central strip of second shagreened; pronotum in dorsal-oblique view subangulate, not bilobous.
Minor: all of head and body foveolate and opaque; all of central strip of first gastral tergite and posterior central strip of second gastral tergite shagreened.
Measurements (mm) Syntype major: HW 1.42 HL 1.42, SL 0.84, EL 0.20, PW 0.66. Minor (Quetzaltepeque, El Salvador): HW 0.54, HL 0.60, SL 0.76, EL 0.12, PW 0.34. Color Major and minor: varies among series from dark yellow to medium reddish brown.
Range I have confirmed series from El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama. J. T. Longino (1997) reports it from Honduras and the Pacific lowlands and slopes of Costa Rica to 1500 m.
Biology According to Longino (1997), pugnax HNS is one of the most common ants of the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica, where it thrives in disturbed habitats, second-growth forest vegetation, and open terrain generally. Nests are usually excavated in the soil, and, in one instance observed, beneath the loose bark of an understory tree. Workers forage over the ground and onto low vegetation.
Figure Upper: major. Lower: minor. EL SALVADOR: 2-A km south of Quetzaltepeque (William L. Brown), compared with syntypes. Scale bars = 1 mm.
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.