Pheidole monteverdensis Wilson, 2003, new species

Pheidole monteverdensis new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Named after the type locality, a famous mountain reserve in Costa Rica.

diagnosis Similar in various traits to albipes, alticola, browni, chalca, hedlundorum, euryscopa, lustrata, palenquensis, and servilia, and distinguished as follows.

Major: dark brown; eye broadly oval and set well forward on head; posterior dorsal profde of head flat; humerus in dorsal-oblique view lobose; propodeal spines moderately long and slender; postpetiole from above elliptical; almost all of dorsal head surface except occiput, frontal triangle, and midclypeus carinulate; carinulae originating on frontal lobes curve inward slightly, toward midline. Minor: dark brown; eye large, elliptical; pilosity sparse; in dorsal-oblique view humerus and mesonotal convexity subangulate; head mostly foveolate, and promesonotum smooth and shiny.

Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.78, HL 0.94, SL 0.42, EL 0.14, PW 0.40. Paratype minor: HW 0.46, HL 0.50, SL 0.40, EL 0.14, PW 0.28.

Color Major: body, mandibles, and scapes dark brown; funiculus and legs medium brown.

Minor: body mostly dark brown; anterior one-fourth of head capsule, and appendages, medium brown.

Range Cloud forest in Costa Rica, 1200-1600 m (Longino 1997).

biology According to Longino (1997), monteverdensis is a dominant ant in cloud-forest leaf litter, but drops out abruptly below 900 m. Nests have been found in pieces of rotting wood in the leaf litter, and one in the clasping petiole of a non-myrmecophytic Piper. A seed cache was discovered in the latter nest.

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. COSTA RICA: Monteverde, 1400 m (Stefan Cover). Scale bars = 1 mm.