Pheidole nebulosa, Wilson, E. O., 2003

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 470

Pheidole nebulosa new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology L nebulosa , misty, cloudy, alluding to the general foveolate and shagreened body surface.

diagnosis Similar in various traits to bilimeki , chalca , daphne , floridana , furtiva , quercicola , specularis , and stomachosa ,

differing as follows.

Major: bicolored, mostly yellow (see Color); hypostoma with 2 teeth only; promesonotal profile semicircular; humerus in dorsaloblique view low and subangulate; all of mesosoma and waist and almost all of dorsal surface of head foveolate and opaque; all of first gastral tergite but the lateral margins shagreened; spaces between eyes and antennal fossae and anterior borders of head rugulose (not rugoreticulate or carinulate).

Minor: humerus in dorsal-oblique view low and subangulate; propodeal spines long, thin, and needle-like; postpetiolar node in side view suppressed; all of head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque, but gaster entirely smooth and shiny, not shagreened. Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.86, HL 0.92, SL 0.50, EL 0.12, PW 0.44. Paratype minor: HW 0.42, HL 0.46, SL 0.44, EL 0.06, PW 0.28.

color Major: bicolored, with body and appendages medium yellow with light reddish tinge (tending to light "orange"), and with

medium brown second to terminal gastral tergites.

Minor: concolorous medium yellow with slight reddish tinge.

Range La Selva biological reserve and adjacent Braulio Carillo National Park to 300 m, Atlantic slope of Costa Rica (J. T. Longino 1997).

biology P. nebulosa occurs both on the forest floor and in the canopy of rainforest, nesting in irregular cavities of dead wood, in Tillandsia epiphytes, and under dead bark and pads of moss (Longino 1997).

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo, Heredia (Stefan Cover). Scale bars = 1 mm.