Pheidole goiddi

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 294

Pheidole goiddi Forel

Pheidole gouldi Forel 1886b: xlii.

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

Etymology Eponymous, no attribution given.

Diagnosis A member of the fallax group instantly recognizable by the following traits.

Major: reddish yellow; entire body covered by short, bristle-like, exclusively erect hairs that on each body part are approximately of equal length; all of head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; all of first gastral tergite and posterior strips of succeeding tergites very finely shagreened and opaque, and first gastral tergite often with bluish reflections; antennal scape reaches halfway from level of eye to level of occiput; postpetiolar node from above elliptical.

Minor: occiput drawn out into a long neck, with nuchal collar; all of head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; all of first gastral tergite and posterior strips of succeeding tergites shagreened and opaque.

Measurements (mm) Major (Palo Verde, Costa Rica): HW 1.66, HL 1.72, SL 1.32, EL 0.24, PW 0.78. Minor (Palo Verde, Costa Rica): HW 0.78, HL 1.04, SL 1.42, EL 0.22, PW 0.52.

color Major: body and appendages light reddish yellow ("orange") except for the gaster, which is medium reddish yellow; first gastral tergite has in addition bluish reflections.

Minor: body medium yellowish brown, appendages light yellowish brown.

Range Recorded from Campeche and Yucatan, Mexico; Guatemala; Honduras; and the northwestern lowlands of Costa Rica.

Biology In Costa Rica, according to Longino (1997), gouldi is an inhabitant of seasonally dry habitats. He has encountered it in the xeric scrub of Santa Rosa National Park and along roadsides. In Campeche, Mexico, I found a colony in a double-cratered nest in dense bushes of a moist thorn woodland.

Figure Upper: major. Lower: minor. COSTA RICA: Rio Tempisque, Palo Verde, Guanacaste (Charles Kugler). (Compared with syntypes.) Scale bars = 1 mm.