Pheidole furtiva new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology L furtiva, hidden, concealed, alluding to the nest site.

diagnosis Similar in various traits to chalca, floridana, daphne, nebulosa, quercicola, specularis, stomachosa, and tysoni, but easily distinguished as follows.

Major: dark yellow; head elongate, subrectangular; eyes very small; from above, humeri angulate and overhanging rest of pronotum, and in dorsal-oblique view are bilobate; mesonotal convexity in dorsal-oblique view angulate; propodeal spiracles large; propodeal spines robust, directed backward; angular subpostpetiolar process present in side view; postpetiole from above broad and spinose; small patch of rugoreticulum present behind each antennal fossa.

Minor: head mostly carinulate and foveolate, with a rugoreticulum behind each eye; anterior and lateral margins of pronotal dorsum rugulose and rugoreticulate, and all of mesosoma foveolate.

Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.90, HL 1.08, SL 0.56, EL 0.06, PW 0.46. Paratype minor: HW 0.54, HL 0.60, SL 0.52, EL 0.04, PW 0.32. Color Major: body dark yellow, appendages medium yellow. Minor: concolorous medium yellow.

range Known only from several Arizona collections made by Stefan Cover in the Chiricahua Mts., 1550-1650 m; Pajarito Mts., Santa Cruz Co., 1110 m; and Patagonia Mts., 1420 m.

Biology The type colony was found nesting in soil beneath a pat of dried cow dung in a grassy, grazed meadow with scattered juniper (Stefan Cover). Other colonies were found by Cover beneath a rock in a grassy juniper flat, in a cryptic soil nest on a rocky hillside covered by acacia-opuntia scrub, and under a rock in an overgrazed, grassy creek valley.

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. ARIZONA: 6.9 km west-northwest of junction FSR42 and FSR42B, Cochise Co., 1650 m (Stefan Cover). Scale bars = 1 mm.