Pheidole parva Mayr,1865

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Wetterer, James K., Mohamed, AbdulAziz M. A., Georgiadis, Christos, Nasser, Mohamed G. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2024, Filling gaps in global myrmecology: ants of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Journal of Natural History 58 (41 - 44), pp. 1705-1786 : 1754-1758

Pheidole parva Mayr,1865

( Figure 33 )

Pheidole parva Mayr, 1865, p. 98 , pl. 4, fig. 28 (s.w.) Sri Lanka. Indomalaya.

Diagnosis

Major worker. Colour yellow to yellow-brown; promesonotal process absent; head rectangular in full-face view, with broadly V-shaped posterior emargination; frontal carinae distinctly short; scrobe feebly developed; submedian hypostomal teeth large, median process present; promesonotum strongly convex in profile; propodeal spines short-triangular; body strongly sculptured with abundant setae scattered over entire body surface.

Material examined

Two sites: 13; 31.

Geographic range. Pheidole parva was originally described from Sri Lanka, but has been introduced in many regions of the world by human commerce ( Fischer and Fisher 2013). On the Arabian Peninsula, it is known from the KSA, the UAE ( Fischer and Fisher 2013), and Oman ( Sharaf et al. 2018b).

Ecology and biology. The nesting habits of Ph. parva are remarkably diverse, including in soil and leaf litter, under stones, among roots, in rotten logs, directly in the ground, in lower vegetation, and under the bark of live trees ( Fischer and Fisher 2013). The species thrives in a broad range of habitats including date palm plantations, public gardens, parks, mangrove and coastal scrub, open lands, degraded dry forest, and rainforest ( Eguchi 2008; Sharaf et al. 2018b).

Figures

Figure 33. Pheidole parva. Minor worker. (A) Body in profile. (B) Head in full-face view, ANTWEB1041898, AntWeb.org (Michele Esposito). (C) Distribution map.