Pheidole bruesi

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole bruesi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. bruesi
Binomial name
Pheidole bruesi
Wheeler, W.M., 1911

At La Sagesse Bay, Stefan Cover and I found P. bruesi abundant in dry, semi-deciduous scrub woodland, nesting in soil covered by thin leaf litter. At Fort Jeudy, a nest was found in dry deciduous forest, in a small rotting stump with galleries extending downward into the soil. In a nutmeg grove at Concord Falls, we found nests common in the soil. A nest excavated at Sagesse Bay contained a single queen. Majors and minors were readily attracted to baits, following odor trails laid by individually foraging scout workers. A male was collected in a nest on Grenada by C. T. Brues in September. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known only from Grenada and, probably, Amazonian Brazil. (Wilson 2003)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 18.126486° to -10.883333°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Grenada (type locality), Lesser Antilles.

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

Nomenclature

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

  • bruesi. Pheidole triconstricta var. bruesi Wheeler, W.M. 1911b: 169 (s.w.) GRENADA I. Raised to species: Wilson, 2003: 174.

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): A small, yellow, nearly hairless member of the diligens group, similar to Pheidole diligens, Pheidole inversa, Pheidole laidlowi, Pheidole radoszkowskii and Pheidole triconstricta, and differing by the following combination of traits.

Major: cephalic sculpturing consisting exclusively of longitudinal carinulae and foveolae, which are usually confined to the dorsal surface anterior to the posterior margin of the eyes; promesonotal profile 3-lobed; petiolar node thick; lateral margins of postpetiolar node subangular; gaster entirely smooth and shiny.

Minor: promesonotal profile 3-lobed. The Grenada series collected by Stefan Cover and me are variable, especially in the amount of cephalic sculpturing. A series nearly identical to the Grenadan population was collected by William L. Brown between Manaus and Itacoatiara, Amazonas, Brazil; it differs from the Grenada bruesi types only in the convex occiput (frontal view) and convex petiolar dorsal border (rear view) of the minor. Thus the status of bruesi as a Grenadan or even West Indian endemic is in doubt.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.98, HL 1.00, SL 0.72, EL 0.20, PW 0.46. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.52, HL 0.60, SL 0.66, EL 0.12, PW 0.34.

COLOR Major and minor: yellow.


Pheidole bruesi Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

From Wilson (2003): GRENADA, WEST INDIES: Grand Etang, col. Charles T. Brues. Museum of Comparative Zoology - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

From Wilson (2003): Named after the collector, the entomologist Charles T. Brues.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
  • Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, F. Petitclerc, B. Corbara, M. Leponce, R. Cereghino, and A. Dejean. 2017. Litter-dwelling ants as bioindicators to gauge the sustainability of small arboreal monocultures embedded in the Amazonian rainforest. Ecological Indicators 82: 43-49.
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Wilson, E.O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Genus. Harvard University Press