Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
|
|
|
|
|
|
Minor worker: head length 0.84mm, head width 0.72mm, scape length 1.09mm, Webers length 1.12mm (n=1). Head with vertex collar absent, head relatively rounded behind; promesonotal and metanotal grooves well impressed; propodeal spines spiniform, of moderate length; face smooth and shining; pronotum smooth and shining; anepisternum differentiated from katepisternum, more impressed; anepisternum with a few coarse rugae mixed with faint punctation; katepisternum also with a mix of rugae and punctation, but punctation stronger; propodeum punctatorugose on sides, foveolate on dorsum; pilosity erect, abundant, of moderate length.
Major worker: head length 1.43mm, head width 1.37mm, scape length 1.03mm (n=1). Face smooth and shiny; pilosity somewhat lanose, subdecumbent.
Minor worker differs from tanyscapa in larger size, more rounded posterior border of head, less developed vertex collar, and relatively shorter pilosity. Major worker differs in larger size, and subdecumbent, somewhat lanose pilosity.
Range
Costa Rica: Central Valley near Cartago, Monteverde.
Natural History
biolleyi inhabits cloud forest. Nests are in the soil, below ground. Workers forage on the ground and in low vegetation.
Selected Records
Monteverde: Multiple Winkler samples from ground; one Winkler sample from canopy.
Monteverde: Cloud forest; foragers on low vegetation.
Monteverde: Small clearing in cloud forest; nest in ground at edge of house.
Comments
The type locality of biolleyi is "Costa del Tablazo." From a gazetteer of Costa Rican place names there is a "Cerro Tablazo" at 9deg50'N 84deg02'W. This site is a few km SW of Cartago, at about 1500m.
Pheidole biolleyi tristani Forel 1908:50 has type locality Costa Rica and was synonymized under biolleyi by Wilson (2003). Wilson gives no details or justification for the synonymy, and we have not examined the types ourselves.
Literature Cited
Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass
Page authors:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA. longinoj@evergreen.edu
Stefan Cover, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA. scover@oeb.harvard.edu
Date of this version: 2 September 2003.
Go back to top