Pheidole christopherseni
Pheidole christopherseni | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
Tribe: | Attini |
Genus: | Pheidole |
Species: | P. christopherseni |
Binomial name | |
Pheidole christopherseni Forel, 1912 |
In Costa Rica, christopherseni has been found in rainforest to 600 m, and in Colombia once in seasonal dry forest. This bizarre little species is strictly arboreal so far as is known. The type colony was nesting in a “very thin hollow stem” (Forel). Longino (1997). reports colonies from Costa Rica in the live, hollow stems of Bauhinia vines (a legume), as well as in a bignoniaceous liana, a small tree, and Cecropia saplings. (Wilson 2003)
Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
In addition to the type locality (Panama), Longino (1997). has recorded christopherseni from the Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica and the Tayrona National Park of Colombia. (Wilson 2003)
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 18.5851° to -4.1°.
North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Panama (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. |
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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
Flight Period
X | X | X | X | X | |||||||
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Source: Kaspari et al., 2001.
- Check details at Worldwide Ant Nuptial Flights Data, AntNupTracker and AntKeeping.
Explore: Show all Flight Month data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
Castes
Worker
Minor
Images from AntWeb
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Worker. Specimen code casent0612251. Photographer Jeremy Pilllow, uploaded by University of Utah. | Owned by JTLC. |
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Syntype of Pheidole christopherseni. Worker. Specimen code casent0908259. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland. |
Major
Images from AntWeb
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Syntype of Pheidole christopherseni. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0908258. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland. |
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Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0612252. Photographer Jeremy Pilllow, 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.
- christopherseni. Pheidole christopherseni Forel, 1912f: 229 (s.w.) PANAMA. See also: Wilson, 2003: 400.
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): One of the most distinctive of all Pheidole species, marked by extremely small size, greatly elongated head of the major, and almost complete lack of carinulae anywhere on the bodies of major and minor, even around the antennal fossae and on the metapleural gland bulla. In some series at least, majors have faint longitudinal carinulae on the frontal lobes, and both castes have a few such traces on sides of the head anterior to the eyes.
MEASUREMENTS (mm) Syntype major: HW 0.34, HL 0.40, SL 0.34, EL 0.06, PW 0.24. Minor not measured.
COLOR Major: concolorous medium yellow.
Minor: concolorous pale yellow.
Figure. Upper: syntype, major. Lower: syntype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.
Type Material
PANAMA. Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève - as reported in Wilson (2003)
Etymology
Eponymous. (Wilson 2003)
References
- Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 400, fig. major, minor described)
- Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
- Forel, A. 1912g. Formicides néotropiques. Part III. 3me sous-famille Myrmicinae (suite). Genres Cremastogaster et Pheidole. Mém. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 19: 211-237 (page 229, soldier, worker described)
- Kaspari, M., Pickering, J., Longino, J., Windsor, D. 2001. The phenology of a Neotropical ant assemblage: evidence for continuous and overlapping reproduction. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 50, 382–390 (doi:10.1007/s002650100378).
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
- Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
- Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
- Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
- Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/