AntWeb: Pheidole absurda
Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Distribution
South Texas to Costa Rica.
Identification
Minor worker: head length 0.74mm, head width 0.68mm, scape length 0.65mm, Webers length 0.91mm (n=1). Head flattened behind; promesonotum evenly arched, mesonotal suture absent; propodeal spines short, sharp, upturned; face shining, largely smooth, with longitudinal carinae between eyes and frontal carinae, faint transverse carinae near posterior border; mesosoma largely smooth and shining, with transverse rugae on anterodorsal pronotum and propodeal dorsum; gaster smooth and shining; dorsal pilosity abundant, of moderate length, flexuous; color light yellow brown.
Major worker: head length 2.38mm, head width 1.79mm, scape length 0.76mm (n=1). Face largely smooth and shining; hypostomal margin with no medial tooth, pair of subtriangular teeth located closer to midline than to recessed teeth flanking mandibles; dorsal pilosity abundant on mesosoma and gaster; pilosity on head sparse, with only a few setae projecting from sides of head in face view.
Similar Species
Minor worker: larger than Pheidole subarmata, Pheidole synarmata, and Pheidole hasticeps. Major worker: unique.
Biology
Habitat: synanthropic (coffee farms, urban lawns), scrubby second growth, seasonally dry habitats, moist forest.
Habits: excavates deep nests in soil. Colonies are granivorous and store seeds in special chambers. Foragers recruit to baits. Creighton (1966) studied the habits of this species (as P. ridicula) in south Texas.
Additional observations: In Monteverde, Costa Rica, at the edge of a forest patch in the upper San Luis valley, Jeremy Miller and other students were helping to excavate the foundation for a new school room and uncovered a nest well beneath the soil surface. Longino found foraging workers in a hotel lawn in San Josˇ, Costa Rica. Collecting in Cerro Cahu’, Guatemala, a seasonal moist forest in the Petˇn, Longino found a nest beneath a stone, and workers were moderately common at baits at this site and nearby Tikal National Park.
Literature Cited
Creighton, W. S. 1966. The habits of Pheidole ridicula Wheeler with remarks on habit patterns in the genus Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 73:1-7.
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
Last modified: 8 December 2009.
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