Pheidole excubitor

Pheidole excubitor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. excubitor
Binomial name
Pheidole excubitor Wilson, 2003

Colonies nest beneath epiphytes in lowland rainforest (Longino 1997).

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Pheidole tristis group

Distribution

Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica (Longino 1997).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 17.385° to 9.4817844°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality), Mexico.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Castes

Worker

Minor

.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• excubitor. Pheidole excubitor Wilson, 2003: 687, figs. (s.w.) COSTA RICA.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

DIAGNOSIS A large, striking, bicolored member ofthe tristis group, with both major and minor possessing short, sparse, erect pilosity and a prominent humerus that rises far above the relatively flat promesonotum in dorsal-oblique view. Mesonotal convexity greatly reduced in major and absent in minor. In both castes, postpetiolar node seen from above bell-shaped, and prominent rounded postpetiolar process present.

Similar to Pheidole alpinensis, Pheidole exarata, Pheidole germaini, Pheidole grandinodus, Pheidole obrima, Pheidole rogeri, Pheidole severini, Pheidole stulta, Pheidole tristis and Pheidole zoster, differing in many details of body form, sculpturing, and pilosity as illustrated, and in color.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.56, HL 1.74, SL 0.84, EL 0.20, PW 0.80. Paratype minor: HW 0.70, HL 0.74, SL 0.76, EL 0.16, PW 0.46.

COLOR Major: waist and gaster blackish brown, contrasting with the yellowish red of the remainder of the body; appendages a darker shade of reddish yellow.

Minor: gaster medium brown, contrasting with the reddish yellow ofthe rest ofthe body and appendages.

Figure. Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Material

COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Pueblo Nuevo, Heredia, 150 m, col. John T. Longino. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad

Etymology

L excubitor, guard, sentinel.

References

• Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 687, fig. major, minor described

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Branstetter M. G. and L. Sáenz. 2012. Las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de Guatemala. Pp. 221-268 in: Cano E. B. and J. C. Schuster. (eds.) 2012. Biodiversidad de Guatemala. Volumen 2. Guatemala: Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, iv + 328 pp
• Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
• Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
• Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/