Pheidole nubicola, Wilson, E. O., 2003

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 329

Pheidole nubicola new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology L nubicola , cloud-dweller, referring to the mountain habitat of the type colony.

diagnosis A member of the fallax group similar to cielana of Mexico and inca of Peru, distinguished as follows.

Major: frontal lobes, sides of head, most of vertex, and pronotal dorsum rugoreticulate; median ocellus present; antennal scape attains occipital border; head bicolored (see Color below).

Minor: all of head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; pronotal dorsum rugoreticulate; midclypeus with scattered short rugulae; occiput strongly constricted but lacks nuchal collar.

measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.18, HL 1.20, SL 0.96, EL 0.20, PW 0.62. Paratype minor: HW 0.64, HL 0.74, SL 0.94, EL 0.16, PW 0.42.

color Major: body medium brown; head bicolored, with anterior fourth dark yellow (except for clypeus and frontal triangle, which are medium brown); appendages dark yellow.

Range Known from the type locality, and from the La Perla-Rancho Somecla road on Mt. Orizaba, Veracruz, 1800-2000 m (E. O. Wilson).

Biology This species occurs in transitional tropical-temperate cloud forest. One colony collected at Rancho Cielo by P. S. Ward was in a rotten log. Another I found on Mt. Orizaba was under a large rock in hardwood forest dominated by Liquidambar and Carpinus, with a Cyafhea-melastome understory. Winged queens were present in a nest at Rancho Cielo on 23 July.

figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. MEXICO: Rancho del Cielo, Sierra de Guatemala, Tamaulipas, 1070 m (Cornell University Expedition group, 1965). Scale bars = 1 mm.