Pheidole pilosior

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

Pheidole pilosior casent0172979 profile 1.jpg

Pheidole pilosior casent0172979 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen Label

The type colony was collected by Cover in a heavily grazed creek floodplain forest, nesting beneath a stone in shade. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Only known from the type locality in Texas.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 30.957496° to 30.595°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (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

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Pheidole pilosior casent0172978 head 1.jpgPheidole pilosior casent0172978 profile 1.jpgPheidole pilosior casent0172978 dorsal 1.jpg
Holotype of Pheidole pilosiorWorker. Specimen code casent0172978. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • pilosior. Pheidole pilosior Wilson, 2003: 157, figs. (s.w.) U.S.A.

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

Description

A member of the crassicornis group, similar to Pheidole crassicornis, Pheidole diversipilosa, Pheidole porcula, Pheidole tetra and Pheidole vallicola, and differing in the following combination of traits.

Major: reddish to dark brown; rugoreticulum of head forms a broad swath from eye to frontal carinae; pilosity very dense, forming a thick fringe of short hairs around the head and a thick mat of hairs of short to medium length on the first gastral tergite; petiolar node in side view tapered to a blunt point at the apex; postpetiolar node laterally acute-angulate; basal segment of scape 2! broader than distal segment.

Minor: dark brown; posterior dorsal half of head and promesonotal dorsum smooth and shiny.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.54, HL 1.58, SL 0.86, EL 0.20, PW 0.76. Paratype minor: HW 0.54, HL 0.68, SL 0.74, EL 0.14, PW 0.38.

COLOR Major: head rich medium reddish brown, with broad area of vertex covering central half of head capsule dark brown; body dark brown; legs medium brown.

Minor: most of body and antennae dark, almost blackish brown; lateral wings of clypeus and legs medium brown.


Pheidole pilosior Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Holotype Specimen Labels

Type Material

TEXAS: Limpia Canyon creekbed, Davis Mts., Jeff Davis Co., southwestern Texas, col. Stefan Cover. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

L pilosior, hairier.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Wilson, E.O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Genus. Harvard University Press