Pheidole cardiella Wilson, 2003, new species

Pheidole cardiella new species

types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Gr cardiella, little heart, referring to the head shape of the major.

Diagnosis A member of the flavens group, most similar to the species listed in the heading, distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: head with mandibles in full-face view almost perfectly heart-shaped; antennal scrobes present; vertex near occiput conspicuously depressed; entire dorsal surface of head, except for frontal triangle, mid-clypeus, and antennal scrobes, longitudinally carinulate; carinulae originating on frontal lobes curve weakly inward as they approach occiput, and carinulae laterad to the antennal scrobes curve strongly inward to meet those originating on the frontal lobes; all of mesosoma foveolate and opaque; postpetiole diamond-shaped.

Minor: all of head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque; eye set forward on head, separated from genal border by a distance about equal to Eye Length; carinulae on head fail to reach eye level.

Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.72, HL 0.72, SL 0.36, EL 0.08, PW 0.34. Paratype minor: HW 0.38, HL 0.42, SL 032, EL 0.06, PW 0.24.

Color Major: mesosoma, waist, and anterior strip of first gastral tergite yellowish brown; head and rest of gaster medium brown; appendages medium yellow.

Minor: concolorous dark yellow.

Both castes are sometimes much darker in shade.

range Recorded from the type locality and from Manabi and Pichincha Provinces of Ecuador.

Biology At Cuzco Amazonico Stefan Cover (personal communication) found cardiella in both terra firme and seasonally flooded rainforest, nesting in soil, litter, and small pieces of rotten wood. Colonies appeared to be small, and in some cases occupied more than one nest site.

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. PERU: Cuzco Amazonico, 15 km northeast of Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios (Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin). Scale bars = 1 mm.