Pheidole deima ^HNS new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Gr deima, a fearful thing.

diagnosis A member of the distorta ^HNS group, characterized by the following combination of traits.

Major: central half of head in side view moderately concave; almost entire head, including genae and frontal lobes, strongly rugoreticulate; also, all of mesosoma and dorsum of petiolar node rugoreticulate; dorsum of postpetiolar node longitudinally carinulate; central section of anterior third of first gastral tergite striate; premesonotal profile weakly bilobed and overall symmetrical; propodeal spines robust, as long as the basal propodeal face.

Minor: all of posterior half of cephalic dorsum except for central strip rugoreticulate; pronotal dorsum rugoreticulate; central strip of anterior third of first gastral tergite striate; propodeal spines extremely long. measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.74, HL 1.92, SL 0.80, EL 0.20, PW 0.84. Paratype minor: HW 0.80, HL 0.84, SL 0.76, EL 0.16, PW 0.54.

Color Major: body dark brown, appendages medium brown except for tarsi, which are yellow. Minor: body medium brown, appendages light brown.

range Known only from the type locality.

Biology Unknown.

figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. BRAZIL: World Wildlife Fund-U. S. Field Station, 90 km north of Manaus (H. G. Fowler). Scale bars = 1 mm.