Pheidole gouldi

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Pheidole gouldi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. gouldi
Binomial name
Pheidole gouldi
Forel, 1886

MCZ-ENT00030762 Pheidole gouldi hal.jpg

MCZ-ENT00030762 Pheidole gouldi had.jpg

Type Label

In Costa Rica, according to Longino (1997), gouldi is an inhabitant of seasonally dry habitats. He has encountered it in the xeric scrub of Santa Rosa National Park and along roadsides. In Campeche, Mexico, I found a colony in a double-cratered nest in dense bushes of a moist thorn woodland. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Recorded from Campeche and Yucatán, Mexico; Guatemala; Honduras; and the northwestern lowlands of Costa Rica. (Wilson 2003)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 20.4766° to 10.84479°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica, Guatemala (type locality), Honduras, Mexico.

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

Association with Other Organisms

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Nematode

  • This species is a host for the nematode Mermithidae (unspecified "Mermix") (a parasite) in Guatemala (Wheeler, 1928; Laciny, 2021).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • gouldi. Pheidole gouldi Forel, 1886b: xlii (s.w.q.m.) GUATEMALA. See also: Wilson, 2003: 295.

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 member of the fallax group instantly recognizable by the following traits.

Major: reddish yellow; entire body covered by short, bristle-like, exclusively erect hairs that on each body part are approximately of equal length; all of head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; all of first gastral tergite and posterior strips of succeeding tergites very finely shagreened and opaque, and first gastral tergite often with bluish reflections; antennal scape reaches halfway from level of eye to level of occiput; postpetiolar node from above elliptical.

Minor: occiput drawn out into a long neck, with nuchal collar; all of head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; all of first gastral tergite and posterior strips of succeeding tergites shagreened and opaque.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Major (Palo Verde, Costa Rica): HW 1.66, HL 1.72, SL 1.32, EL 0.24, PW 0.78. Minor (Palo Verde, Costa Rica): HW 0.78, HL 1.04, SL 1.42, EL 0.22, PW 0.52.

COLOR Major: body and appendages light reddish yellow (“orange”) except for the gaster, which is medium reddish yellow; first gastral tergite has in addition bluish reflections.

Minor: body medium yellowish brown, appendages light yellowish brown.


Pheidole gouldi Wilson 2003.jpg

Figure. Upper: major. Lower: minor. COSTA RICA: Rio Tempisque, Palo Verde, Guanacaste, col. Charles Kugler. (Compared with syntypes.) Scale bars = 1 mm.

Paratype Specimen Labels

Type Material

Guatemala. Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa and Museum of Comparative Zoology - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

Eponymous, no attribution given. (Wilson 2003)

References

  • Forel, A. 1886b. Espèces nouvelles de fourmis américaines. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 30:xxxviii-xlix. (page xlii, soldier, worker, queen, male described)
  • Wheeler, W.M. 1928. Mermis parasitism and intercastes among ants. Journal of Experimental Zoology 50: 165-237 (doi:10.1002/jez.1400500202).
  • Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 294, fig. major, minor described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Castano-Meneses, G., M. Vasquez-Bolanos, J. L. Navarrete-Heredia, G. A. Quiroz-Rocha, and I. Alcala-Martinez. 2015. Avances de Formicidae de Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
  • Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
  • Fernandes, P.R. XXXX. Los hormigas del suelo en Mexico: Diversidad, distribucion e importancia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
  • Forel A. 1911. Ameisen des Herrn Prof. v. Ihering aus Brasilien (Sao Paulo usw.) nebst einigen anderen aus Südamerika und Afrika (Hym.). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1911: 285-312.
  • INBio Collection (via Gbif)
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Lachaud J. P., and G. Perez-Lachaud. 2013. Revisión preliminar de las hormigas de Campeche y Quintana Roo, México, con base en la colección de Arthropoda del Colegio de la Frontera Sur. In Formicidae de Mexico (eds. M. Vasquez-Bolanos, G. Castano-Meneses, A. Cisneros-Caballero, G. A. Quiroz-Rocha, and J. L. Navarrete-Heredia) p21-32.
  • Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
  • Mirmecofauna de la reserva ecologica de San Felipe Bacalar
  • Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
  • Wilson, E.O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Genus. Harvard University Press