Pheidole cursor, Wilson, E. O., 2003

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 281

publication ID

20017

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6274785

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/DE02D83F-383C-8A63-7C41-B17E20352ED0

treatment provided by

Donat

scientific name

Pheidole cursor
status

new species

Pheidole cursor   HNS new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology L cursor   HNS , runner.

Diagnosis A very distinctive member of the fallax   HNS group recognizable by the following traits.

Major: posterior third of dorsal head profile lined with a dense carpet of very short, suberect hairs of about equal length; the occipital margin in full-face view lined with similar, subrecumbent hairs; a similar layer of short subrecumbent hairs lines the ventral profile of the first gastral sternite; nadir of occipital cleft deep; rugoreticulum on each side of head extends from eye to antennal fossa and frontal carina; humerus in dorsal-oblique view prominent above rest of pronotum; postpetiole seen from above diamond-shaped. Minor: bicolored (see below); propodeal spine reduced to denticle; occiput constricted to a neck, with very broad nuchal collar. Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.50, HL 1.56, SL 1.00, EL 0.22, PW 0.68. Paratype minor: HW 0.54, HL 0.74, SL 1.02, EL 0.16, PW 0.38. color Major: body and mandibles light reddish brown, legs reddish yellow.

Minor: bicolorous, with head medium brown, mesosoma light brown, and gaster and appendages dark yellow.

Range In addition to the types and numerous other series from Cuzco Amazonico, I have seen collections from Benjamin Constant, and Iraboca, near Belem, Amazonian Brazil (W. L. Brown).

Biology According to Stefan Cover (personal communication), cursor   HNS was common in both terra firme and seasonally flooded rainforest at Cuzco Amazonico, Peru, nesting in both small and large pieces of rotten wood on the forest floor. Colonies were monogynous and relatively small, containing fewer than 300 workers. The workers were predaceous, and no seed caches or other evidences of seed harvesting were found.

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. PERU: Cuzco Amazonico, 15 km northeast of Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios (Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin). Scale bars = 1 mm.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

Genus

Pheidole

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