Pheidole floridana Emery
publication ID |
20017 |
DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3507790 |
persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/460E2250-6734-06E0-1CE5-11F59271D1F8 |
treatment provided by |
Donat |
scientific name |
Pheidole floridana Emery |
status |
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Pheidole floridana Emery View in CoL HNS
Pheidole flavens subsp. floridana Emery HNS 1895d: 293. Raised to species level by Pergande 1896: 883. Syn.: Pheidole lauta Wheeler HNS 1908h: 470, synonymy by Gregg 1959: 21.
types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard; Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova.
Etymology Named after the state of origin.
Diagnosis Nearly identical with bilimeki HNS and its Neotropical variants, distinguished as follows.
Major: foveolation on dorsum of head very fine; first gastral tergite smooth and shiny; humerus less prominent in
dorsal-oblique view.
Minor: antennal scapes relatively short, just reaching or barely surpassing the occipital corner; first gastral tergite smooth and shiny, with at most a light shagreening at the base of the tergite.
Both castes are consistently yellow. P. floridana HNS is very close to bilimeki HNS , and also to stomachosa HNS of Jamaica, which coexists on the island with bilimeki HNS . P. stomachosa HNS is distinguished from both bilimeki HNS and floridana HNS by the head and pronotum of the minor being smooth and shiny (q.v.).
Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.92, HL 1.00, SL 0.44, EL 0.10, PW 0.46. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.44, HL 0.52, SL 0.42, EL 0.06, PW 0.30. Color Major and minor: concolorous yellow.
range P. floridana HNS has been recorded by Stefan Cover (personal communication) from the coastal plain of North Carolina south to the Florida Keys and west to central Texas (Austin and surrounding area), thence south into Mexico.
biology At Bald Point, Franklin Co., Florida, I found colonies nesting at a roadside in open sandy soil; and in Mobile, Alabama (in 1942) what was probably this species nesting beneath a whiskey bottle in a vacant lot. Winged reproductives have been found in nests during September and October. Stefan Cover (personal communication) reports that floridana HNS "occurs in a variety HNS of woodland habitats, nests in soil, litter, and rotten wood, and in both xeric and mesic situations. Colonies are monogynous, may contain 1000 or more ants, and are sometimes polydomous. The species is omnivorous, but does not appear to harvest seeds."
Figure Upper: lectotype, major (damaged specimen; pilosity added from a fresh specimen); the upper dorsal-oblique profile of mesosoma is the lectotype, and the lower profde is a major from Sarasota, Florida. Lower: paralectotype, minor (damaged specimen; pilosity added from a fresh specimen). 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.
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