Pheidole portalensis

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

Pheidole portalensis casent0102890 profile 1.jpg

Pheidole portalensis casent0102890 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Stefan Cover reports (personal communication) that “portalensis is an inhabitant of rock walls, where it nests in cracks, in elevations from 1100 to 1800 m. Colonies consist of several hundred ants or more. Minors forage singly on the rock faces, and recruit regularly to good food sources. Baiting is the only reliable way to locate colonies.” (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known from the mountains of southern Arizona, from the Santa Catalinas in the north to the Pajaritos in the west and east to the type locality. (Wilson 2003)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 33.79166667° to 29.26888889°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: 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

Castes

Worker

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Pheidole portalensis casent0102891 head 1.jpgPheidole portalensis casent0102891 profile 1.jpgPheidole portalensis casent0102891 dorsal 1.jpgPheidole portalensis casent0102891 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102891. Photographer Jen Fogarty, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • portalensis. Pheidole portalensis Wilson, 2003: 338, 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 fallax group, similar to Pheidole ariel, Pheidole desertorum, Pheidole hyatti, Pheidole sitiens, Pheidole skwarrae, Pheidole vistana, and distinguished as follows.

Major: no rugoreticulum on head or anywhere else on body; antennal scapes just attain the occipital border; entire head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; almost all of first two gastral tergites shagreened and opaque; carinulae around midline of head dorsum attain occiput; midclypeus faintly carinulate; mesonotal convexity very low.

Minor: entire head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; entire median strip of first two gastral tergites shagreened; mesonotal convexity very low; occiput narrowed, with nuchal collar.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.40, HL 1.50, SL 1.30, EL 0.24, PW 0.66. Paratype minor: HW 0.74, HL 0.96, SL 1.28, EL 0.20, PW 0.50.

COLOR Major: body and appendages light reddish brown except for gaster, which is plain medium brown.

Minor: body light reddish brown except for gaster, which is plain medium brown; appendages reddish yellow.


Pheidole portalensis Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

ARIZONA: Southwest Research Station (American Museum of Natural History), 8 km west of Portal, Cochise Co., 1650 m, col. William L. Brown. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

Referring to the type locality.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics