Pheidole prostrata

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole prostrata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. prostrata
Binomial name
Pheidole prostrata
Wilson, 2003

Pheidole prostrata inbiocri001282579 p 1 high.jpg

Specimen Label

According to Longino (1997), prostrata nests in the low arboreal zone, within a few meters of the ground, in mature wet forest. It apparently does not forage onto the ground. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica (J. T. Longino 1997).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.43333333° to 5.155°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

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

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Castes

Worker

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Pheidole prostrata casent0635506 h 1 high.jpgPheidole prostrata casent0635506 p 1 high.jpgPheidole prostrata casent0635506 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0635506. Photographer J. Longino, uploaded by University of Utah. Owned by JTLC.

Nomenclature

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

  • prostrata. Pheidole prostrata Wilson, 2003: 217, 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

Major: varicolored, with bicolorous head; dorsolateral areas of head anterior to the occiput weakly rugoreticulate, withthe dorsal head surface between the rugoreticular patches longitudinally carinulate; dorsal pilosity of body dense, long, and erect; propodeal spine long and thin.

Minor: mesonotal convexity and postpetiolar node in side view flattened; dorsal pilosity of head and mesosoma sparse, long, and erect.

Similar to Pheidole aculifera (in the fallax group), whose major has a rugoreticulum mesad to the eyes but not just anterior to occiput, with the posterior half of the head foveolate only, and neither carinulate nor foveolate as in prostrata. The propodeal spiracle is very small in the major compared to that of aculifera.

See also the less similar Pheidole boruca, Pheidole variegata (= Pheidole pubiventris) and Pheidole violacea.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.12, HL 1.12, SL 0.80, EL 0.16, PW 0.48. Paratype minor: HW 0.48, HL 0.64, SL 0.82, EL 0.14, PW 0.32.

COLOR Major: head bicolorous, with clypeus and capsule posterior to anterior margins of eyes light brown, and rest of capsule brownish yellow; gaster and waist light brown; mesosoma brownish yellow; legs yellow.

Minor: head posterior to eyes, as well as postpetiole and gaster, light brown; mesosoma, anterior margin of head capsule, and petiole brownish yellow; appendages yellow.


Pheidole prostrata Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo, Heredia, col. Leeanne E. Tennant-Alonso. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

L prostrata, low, flattened, alluding to the low mesonotal convexity and postpetiolar node of the minor in side view.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
  • Gomez V. E. S., and G. Z. González. 2007. Catalogo de Las Hormigas Presentes en El Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. Popayán : 1-58.
  • LaPolla, J.S. and S.P. Cover. 2005. New species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Guyana, with a list of species known from the country. Tranactions of the American Entomological Society 131(3-4):365-374
  • Lapolla, J. S., and S. P. Cover. "New species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) from Guyana, with a list of species known from the country." Transactions of the American Entomological Society 131, no. 3-4 (2005): 365-374.
  • Lapolla, J.S., T. Suman, J. Soso-Calvo and T.R. Schultz. 2006. Leaf litter ant diversity in Guyana. Biodiversity and Conservation 16:491–510
  • 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. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
  • Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/