Pheidole porcula Wheeler

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 159

Pheidole porcula Wheeler

Pheidole crassicornis subsp. porcula Wheeler 1908h: 466. Raised to species level by Creighton 1950a: 187.

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard; Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.

Etymology L porcula , little pig-like.

diagnosis A member of the crassicornis group close to crassicornis , diversipilosa , tetra , and vallicola , differing from these species in the following combination of traits.

Major: yellow; rugoreticulum on head stretches from frontal carinae obliquely upward posterior to level of eye but does not reach the eye; pilosity dense, in full-face view fringing the head and on the first gastral tergite forming a very short, uniform felt; humerus subangulate; postpetiole from above oval, not angulate; scape at widest part of basal portion is 2X widest part of distal portion; pronotum smooth and shiny except for anterior fringe, which is carinulate.

Minor: posterior half of head completely smooth and shiny, pronotum sparsely foveolate, feebly shiny; propodeal spines reduced to denticles.

Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.58, HL 1.60, SL 0.92, EL 0.20, PW 0.78. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.60, HL 0.74, SL 0.84, EL 0.12, PW 0.40. Color Major: concolorous yellow. Minor: concolorous light reddish brown.

Range Chisos Mts. of the Big Bend of southwestern Texas to the vicinity of Abilene and San Angelo, central Texas; probably also occurs in upland Chihuahua.

Biology Near San Angelo, Texas, Stefan Cover (unpublished notes) found a nest in a grassy flat, in clayey soil beneath a rock. Moody and Francke (1982) found numerous colonies in western Texas at 100-1700 m, nesting variously under stones, logs, cow dung, and under wood and fragments of metal, as well as in open soil.

Figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. TEXAS: Chisos Mts., Big Bend of southwestern Texas (O. W. Williams). Scale bars = 1 mm.