Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Identification
Minor worker: head length 0.66mm, head width 0.59mm, scape length 0.57mm, Webers length 0.84mm (n=1). Head rounded behind; mesonotal suture absent; humeri somewhat produced as angulate bosses; propodeal spines short; face largely smooth and shining; mesosoma largely punctatorugose, with shiny patch on side of pronotum; gaster smooth and shining; dorsal pilosity abundant, flexuous; color yellow.
Major worker: head length 1.11mm, head width 0.95mm, scape length 0.53mm (n=1). Anterior one third to half of face with longitudinal, subparallel rugae; posterior half largely smooth and shining, sometimes with faint etching; clypeus with longitudinal median keel, less evident in lowland specimens; hypostomal margin straight, with no median tooth (or a slight nubbin), and pair of stout, sharp teeth about one half distance to recessed teeth flanking mandible bases; dorsal pilosity abundant; head with abundant, subdecumbent setae projecting from sides of head in face view.
Range
Costa Rica: Atlantic slope to 1100m.
Natural History
This species occurs in wet forest. Workers have not been observed at baits or in Winkler samples. Three nests have been observed in Cecropia sapling internodes, one in the foliar pouches of a myrmecophytic melastome, and one in a dead stick in the leaf litter. When the dead stick was cracked, two Pheidole nests were found, one of this species and one of Pheidole scrobifera (JTL0219). The two nests were separated by a 1cm plug of sawdust. When they mixed, fighting ensued.
Selected Records
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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