Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
Range
Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil (Mato Grosso), Paraguay. Costa Rica: southern Pacific lowlands.
Comments
The type locality of P. vallifica is San Antonio, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. Forel collected the species nesting in sandy soil at the edge of a stream. The nest entrances had semicircular piles of excavated soil.
Wilson (2003) identified as vallifica some of his collections from Palmar Sur in Costa Rica. He found it to be common in banana plantations, nesting in open soil.
The minor worker has dorsal face of propodeum and dorsal surface of head from eyes forward carinulate, the rest of the body completely smooth and shiny. The propodeal spines are reduced to right angles. The major is similarly sculptured. There are abundant short erect setae projecting from the sides of the head in both castes. The color is given as light brown. Minor worker HW 0.60, HL 0.66, SL 0.58. Major worker HW 1.12, HL 1.22, SL 0.60.
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
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