Pheidole crassicornis Emery

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 152

Pheidole crassicornis Emery

Pheidole crassicornis Emery 1895d: 296.

Types Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova; possibly also Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard (see Figure caption above). Etymology L crassicornis , thick horn, referring to the expanded basal part of the antennal scape. diagnosis a member of the crassicornis group distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: thickened basal portion of scape strongly curved toward the insertion, as illustrated; pilosity very sparse, usually almost absent from the head and gaster; humerus subangulate in dorsal-oblique view; pronotal dorsum marginally carinulate. Minor: all of dorsal surface of head except middle of clypeus and frontal triangle, as well as all of mesosoma and waist, foveolate and opaque.

See also diversipilosa , porcula , subporcula , tetra , and vallicola .

Measurements (mm) Major (Belmont, North Carolina): HW 1.30, HL 1.30, SL 0.78, EL 0.20, PW 0.64. Minor (Belmont, North Carolina): HW 0.62, HL 0.74, SL 0.84, EL 0.10, PW 0.44. color Major: concolorous brownish yellow. Minor: concolorous yellowish brown.

Range North Carolina to northern Florida and west to western Texas.

Biology In northern Florida, Naves (1985) found the species sympatric with diversipilosa , nesting in deep soil in forest clearings. The inconspicuous nest openings were never surrounded by craters of excavated soil of the kind common in other soil-dwelling species of Pheidole , and the vertical galleries ran at least 60 cm deep. Minors and occasionally majors foraged 4 meters or more from the nest entrances, and minors were observed retrieving live termites and small dead arthropods. In western Texas, Moody and Francke (1982) found colonies at 100-1700 m, nesting under stones and in open soil.

Figure Upper: major. Lower: minor. NORTH CAROLINA: Belmont, Gaston Co., near Charlotte. (Labeled to species by Carlos Emery and likely part of his type series; the type locality is Charlotte.) Scale bars = 1 mm.