Pheidole sykesii

Pheidole sykesii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. sykesii
Binomial name
	Pheidole sykesii; Forel, 1902 Type Specimen Label

A large species occurring in India, Pheidole sykesii nests are constructed with concentric soil walls around a central entrance, the walls preventing rain water from entering the nest. Within the nest are chambers used to store either grain or brood (eggs, larvae and pupae). The passageways to these chambers are relatively narrow and air is trapped within them, preventing the entrance of water. The concentric embankments vary across nests, from a single tube less than 25mm high in flat dry country, to a half-dozen concentric rings with a largest diameter of 450mm and with the centre tube 75mm or more high and each of the outer rings decreasing in height. Additionally, when the nest is on a slope, the up-hill half of a ring is always considerably higher than the lower half. Note that while Pheidole wroughtonii and Pheidole latinoda build similar nests, they are rudimentary compared with those of P. sykesi (Wroughton, 1892).

Photo Gallery

Pheidole sykesii nest from Maharashtra, India. Photo by Sagar Singh.
The nest entrance of P. sykesii in the hills approximately 30km northwest of Pune, Maharashtra, India.

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 20.593684° to 18.513271°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India (type locality).

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.

Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

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

sykesii. Pheidole sykesii Forel, 1902c: 173 (s.), 190 (w.q.m.) INDIA. [Also described as new by Forel, 1902f: 541.]

Description

References

Forel, A. 1902c. Myrmicinae nouveaux de l'Inde et de Ceylan. Rev. Suisse Zool. 10: 165-249 (page 173, 190, soldier, worker, queen, male described)
Forel, A. 1902g. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part IX. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 14: 520-546 (page 541, also described as new)
Rasheed, S.B., Ali, M., Zaidi, F., Noreen, S. 2020. Diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in residential area of Tarbela, Swabi: New recrds from Pakistan. The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences 31: 617-624 (doi:10.36899/japs.2021.2.0250).
Wroughton, R.C. 1892. Our ants. Part II. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 7:175-203.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Rajan P. D., M. Zacharias, and T. M. Mustak Ali. 2006. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka). Conservation Area Series, Zool. Surv. India.i-iv,27: 153-188.