Pheidole subarmata
publication ID |
20017 |
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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 |
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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.
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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