Key to Pheidole transversostriata group

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Key to species of the Pheidole transversostriata group based on workers, has been modified from Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Note that Pheidole obapara is not included as it was described after this key was prepared.

This group of small, rather rare ants, the soldiers of which have transversely carinulate heads, superficially resemble those of the tachigaliae group but have 12-segmented rather than 11-segmented antennae. They furthermore differ significantly in head and body shape. Members of the transversostriata group occur variously from Central America to Ecuador and Trinidad. They appear to be derivatives of one or more lines within the large, phenetically defined flavens group. One species, ''Pheidole bicornis, is an obligate symbiont of Piper myrmecophytes.

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1

  • Major: in side view, frontal lobes drawn out from the surface of the head as hornlike, acute-angular projections; mesonotal dorsum rugoreticulate (Central America, inhabits Piper myrmecophytes) . . . . . Pheidole bicornis
Pheidole bicornis inbiocri001281881 p 1 high.jpg
Minor
Pheidole bicornis casent0625441 p 1 high.jpg
  • Major: in side view, frontal lobes rounded, not drawn out as hornlike projections; mesonotal dorsum carinulate, or foveolate, or smooth, but not rugoreticulate . . . . . 2

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Pheidole scalaris inbiocri002279609 p 1 high.jpg
Minor
Pheidole scalaris casent0635522 p 1 high.jpg
  • Major: occiput transversely carinulate, not rugoreticulate . . . . . 3

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  • Major: in side view, profile of head not “dented” by a strong concavity just anterior to the occiput, instead forming a smooth, continuous convexity; space between eye and frontal lobe rugoreticulate (South America, West Indies) . . . . . Pheidole transversostriata
Pheidole transversostriata casent0601287 profile 1.jpg
Pheidole transversostriata Wilson 2003.jpg
  • Major: in side view, profile of head "dented" by a strong convexity just anterior to the occiput; space between eye and frontal lobes with carinulae only . . . . . 4

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  • Major: on posterior half of dorsum of head, transverse carinulae run straight across, with the anteriormost one ending at the margins of the head halfway between the eye and the level of the occiput; pronotum entirely smooth and shiny (Amazonian Brazil and Peru) . . . . . Pheidole scolioceps
Pheidole scolioceps Wilson 2003.jpg
  • Major: on posterior half of dorsum of head, transverse carinulae curve anteriorly from midline to margins of head, with the anteriormost one almost touching the eyes; pronotum foveolate and opaque, and also bearing transverse carinulae on its anterior dorsum (montane Ecuador) . . . . . Pheidole gnomus
Pheidole gnomus Wilson 2003.jpg