Pheidole nasifera

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole nasifera
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. nasifera
Binomial name
Pheidole nasifera
Wilson, 2003

The nest of the type colony contained a cache of small seeds. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Only known from the type locality.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -9.166667° to -9.166667°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Peru (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
pChart

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.
pChart

Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • nasifera. Pheidole nasifer Wilson, 2003: 726, figs. (s.w.) PERU.

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

Description

DIAGNOSIS A medium-sized member of the tristis group similar and in various ways to Pheidole binasifera, Pheidole diabolus, Pheidole gravida, Pheidole mirabilis, Pheidole moseni, Pheidole nasifera, Pheidole rhinoceros and Pheidole unicornis, but sharply distinguished as follows.

Major: a single "nose" (the median carina of the clypeus) protrudes in side view, not accompanied by the frontal lobes; all of dorsal surface of head except occiput covered by carinulae, with those originating from the frontal lobes and along the frontal carinae turning outward to travel to the sides of the head; pronotal dorsum transversely carinulate; petiolar node from above oval.

Minor: propodeal spines reduced to denticles; meso somal dorsum almost completely covered by transverse carinulae; postpetiolar node depressed, and postpetiole cylindrical in overall shape; occipital margin broad and weakly concave.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.16, HL 1.32, SL 0.64, EL 0.18, PW 0.68. Paratype minor: HW 0.56, HL 0.62,. SL 0.56, EL 0.10, PW 0.36.

COLOR Major: concolorous plain medium brown.

Minor: body dark brown, appendages medium brown.


Pheidole nasifera Wilson 2003.jpg

Figure. Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Material

PERU: vicinity of Tingo Maria, Hwiuco, col. W. L. Brown and W. Sherbrooke. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

L nasifera, bearing a nose, referring to the nose-like protrusion of the median clypeal carina of the major in side view.

References

Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Text and images from this publication used by permission of the author.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Bezdeckova K., P. Bedecka, and I. Machar. 2015. A checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Peru. Zootaxa 4020 (1): 101–133.
  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.