Pheidole subarmata

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 759-760

publication ID

20017

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6275597

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A6C827CC-8D9E-37ED-0943-78EC80D0C931

treatment provided by

Donat

scientific name

Pheidole subarmata
status

 

Pheidole subarmata View in CoL   HNS Mayr

Pheidole subarmata   HNS Mayr 1884: 37. Syn.: Pheidole cornutula Emery   HNS 1890c: 52 (footnote), synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole subarmata var. elongatula   HNS Forel 1893j: 408, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole subarmata var. nassavensis Wheeler   HNS 1905c: 92, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole cornutula var. imbecillis Emery   HNS 1906c: 151, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole subarmata var. borinquenensis Wheeler   HNS 1908a: 133, syn. by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole hondurensis Mann   HNS 1922: 25, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole cornutula var. dentimentum Santschi   HNS 1929d: 285, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526; Pheidole subarmata var. nefasta Santschi   HNS 1929d: 285, synonymy by Brown 1981: 526.

Types Naturhist. Mus. Wien.

etymology L subarmata   HNS , presumably, less well armed, referring to the small propodeal spines.

diagnosis Similar to allarmata   HNS , cramptoni   HNS , hasticeps   HNS , synarmata   HNS , and triplex   HNS , differing from them and other Pheidole   HNS by the following combination of traits.

Major: head elongate; frontal lobes seen from the side triangular, pointing slightly downward; pronotum low and rounded, descending into the mesonotum in a weakly convex, continuous curve; propodeal spines very small; carinulae limited to the anterior half of the head, and those immediately mesad to the eyes reaching only to the posterior margins of the eyes; rest of head and body smooth and shiny.

Minor: occiput broad, lacking nuchal collar; propodeal spines reduced to denticles; except for circular carinulae of the antennal fossa, entire head and body smooth and shiny.

I have confirmed most of the synonymies made by William L. Brown (1981) and listed above.

measurements (mm) Paralectotype major (Santa Catarina, Brazil): HW 0.94, HL 1.18, SL 0.50, EL 0.14, PW 0.54. Lectotype minor: HW 0.42, HL 0.48, SL 0.42, EL 0.08, PW 0.28.

COLOR Major: reddish yellow to dark brown, including appendages; on some specimens at least, there is a diffuse round light brown spot on the vertex, as illustrated.

Minor: light yellowish brown, appendages yellow.

RANGE Pheidole subarmata   HNS is one of the most abundant and wide-ranging species of New World Pheidole   HNS , as evidenced by the heavy synonymic fouling cited above. It has been recorded from Veracruz, Mexico, south to Santa Catarina in southern Brazil, and widely through the West Indies, including the Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and some of the Lesser Antilles, including St. Vincent and Grenada. It has also been found on Cocos Island off the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

BIOLOGY Pheidole subarmata   HNS favors moist soil in open places, including habitats seriously disturbed by human activity -such as the edges of dirt roads, agricultural fields, coconut groves, secondary rainforest, city parks, and seashores. When exploring in the deeper rainforest is done, it is usually easy for the collector to add subarmata   HNS to his list by searching adjacent roads and fields. On St. Vincent, the indefatigable H. H. Smith (in Forel 1893j) found colonies of this species from sea level to 460 m. The nests are usually constructed in open soil or soil beneath rocks or sod, but also occasionally in pieces of rotting wood. When in the open they are marked by irregular accumulations of excavated soil. The galleries are irregular and difficult to follow by excavation, although I was able to do so in a Costa Rican banana plantation by digging a lateral pit and shaving the soil away from the side. The colonies are relatively small, with workers numbering probably only in the hundreds. On St. Vincent, H. H. Smith observed workers foraging on the ground and bushes. He found colony-founding queens in November.

Figure Upper: major. Lower: minor. COLOMBIA: Yumbo. (Compared with syntypes from Santa Catarina, Brazil, by E. O. Wilson.) (Type locality: Cayenne, French Guiana, collected by M. Jelski.) Scale bars = 1 mm.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

Genus

Pheidole

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