Pheidole bruchella

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole bruchella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. bruchella
Binomial name
Pheidole bruchella
Forel, 1915

Pheidole bruchella casent0908285 p 1 high.jpg

Pheidole bruchella casent0908285 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

This species is only known from type specimens. Nothing is known about its biology.

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Only known from the type locality.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina (type locality).

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 bruchella casent0908286 h 1 high.jpgPheidole bruchella casent0908286 p 1 high.jpgPheidole bruchella casent0908286 d 1 high.jpgPheidole bruchella casent0908286 l 1 high.jpg
Paralectotype of Pheidole bruchellaWorker. Specimen code casent0908286. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

  • bruchella. Pheidole lignicola var. bruchella Forel, 1915c: 355 (s.w.) ARGENTINA. Raised to species: Wilson, 2003: 386.

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

Description

From Wilson (2003): Similar in various traits to Pheidole breviscapa (=Pheidole perpusilla), Pheidole caracalla, Pheidole micon, Pheidole subreticulata and Pheidole tennantae, differing as follows.

Major: brown; metanotum seen from side raised as a ridge; mesonotal convexity seen from side subangulate; pronotal dorsum in dorsal-oblique view bilobate; postpetiole from above trapezoidal; occipital lobes smooth and shiny; rugoreticulum present between eye and antennal fossa on each side; most of dorsal head surface and anterior half of pronotal dorsum carinulate.

Minor: ventral surface of head in profile feebly concave; all of head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque; propodeal spines small; occiput narrowed slightly, but with strongly concave margin and no nuchal collar.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.94, HL 0.94, SL 0.50, EL 0.10, PW 0.48. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.44, HL 0.52, SL 0.62, EL 0.08, PW 0.30.

COLOR Major: body dark brown, appendages medium brown.


Pheidole bruchella Wilson 2003.jpg

Figure. Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Material

Argentina. Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

Named for the Argentine entomologist Bruch, Carlos (1869-1943). (Wilson 2003)

References

  • Forel, A. 1915c. Formicides d'Afrique et d'Amérique nouveaux ou peu connus. IIe partie. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 50: 335-364 (page 355, soldier, worker described)
  • Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 386, fig. major, minor described, Raised to species: new status)