Pheidole floridana Emery

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 424

Pheidole floridana Emery

Pheidole flavens subsp. floridana Emery 1895d: 293. Raised to species level by Pergande 1896: 883. Syn.: Pheidole lauta Wheeler 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 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 is very close to bilimeki , and also to stomachosa of Jamaica, which coexists on the island with bilimeki . P. stomachosa is distinguished from both bilimeki and floridana 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 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 "occurs in a variety 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.