Pheidole rhinoceros

Longino, J. T., 2009, Additions to the taxonomy of New World Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 2181, pp. 1-90 : 70-71

Pheidole rhinoceros

Pheidole rhinoceros Forel, 1899: 73 , pl. 3, fig. 23. Lectotype major worker (here designated, as labeled by Wilson 2003) and associated paralectotype minor worker: Panama, Bugaba, 800-1500ft (Champion) [ MHNG] (examined).

Geographic Range

Panama to southern Mexico.

Biology

This species occurs in lowland wet forest habitats. Its upper elevational limit varies geographically: on the Barva Transect in Costa Rica it does not occur over 500m elevation. It occurs as high as 800m elevation in the Penas Blancas Valley in the Cordillera de Tilaran, and it has been collected at 1100m on Volcan Cacao, an isolated peak in the Cordillera de Guanacaste. Nests are in dead wood on the forest floor, under loose bark, and occasionally in live stems (nests have been collected in live stems of Myriocarpa [Urticaceae] and the petiolar domatia of Piper cenocladum [Piperaceae]). Surprisingly, given the moderately common discovery of nests when general collecting, workers rarely recruit to baits and are rarely collected in Winkler or Berlese samples.

Comments

Two similar species have been conflated under this name until now. Wilson (2003) examined the lectotype of P. rhinoceros but later used specimens of the similar P. rhinomontana (described below) for illustrations. See further discussion and diagnostic characters under P. rhinomontana .

Pheidole unicornis Wilson 2003 is not currently separable from P. rhinoceros , but I defer synonymy pending additional study. In Central America, P. rhinoceros is a lowland species and P. rhinomontana is a parapatric replacement species at higher elevations. Unlike this pattern, P. unicornis has the morphology of P. rhinoceros but was collected at 2100m near Cali, Colombia. The minor workers appear somewhat more robust than the typical P. rhinoceros from Costa Rica.