Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Identification
Minor worker: head length 0.78mm, head width 0.61mm, scape length 1.00mm, Webers length 1.00mm (n=1). Head evenly rounded behind, without vertex collar; promesonotal and metanotal grooves well impressed; propodeal spines short; face smooth and shiny, with punctatorugose area between eye, frontal carina, and mandibular insertion; pronotum largely smooth and shiny, with faint punctation anteriorly and anterolaterally; mesonotum smooth and shiny dorsally, foveolate on sides; propodeum foveolate dorsally and on sides; gaster smooth and shiny; dorsal pilosity moderately abundant, long, flexuous; color red brown.
Major worker: head length 1.22mm, head width 1.16mm, scape length 0.98mm (n=1). Face shiny throughout; anterior two thirds of face, lateral to frontal carinae, longitudinally rugose foveolate, remainder of face smooth; hypostomal margin with pair of widely-spaced teeth, teeth short, subtriangular (based on one collection; in other obscurior-like species, teeth may vary intraspecifically, from subtriangular to long and needle-like), located near small recessed teeth flanking mandible; dorsal setae abundant, flexuous; abundant suberect setae projecting from sides of head in face view.
Range
Costa Rica: Santa Rosa.
Natural History
Known from one collection; oak forest on plateau; workers carrying dead male ponerine.
Comments
The combination of morphometric profile and sculpture place this species near obscurior and aenescens. The major of obscurior has more extensive foveate sculpture on the face, the pilosity on the sides of the head is more abundant and more decumbent, and the scapes are thinner at the base. The major scape bases are somewhat thickened and flattened on JTL-006. The major of P. aenescens has rugose sculpture that extends further posteriorly on the face, but otherwise it is very similar. Pheidole aenescens is from near Belem, Brazil. Morphometrically JTL-006 is also close to lupus, from Peru, but lupus has very distinctive flattened scapes in minor and major worker.
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
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