Pheidole coveri

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Pheidole coveri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. coveri
Binomial name
Pheidole coveri
Wilson, 2003

Pheidole coveri jtlc000016351 p 1 high.jpg

Pheidole coveri jtlc000016351 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Four of five colonies collected by Stefan Cover (personal communication) in the St. George County mountains of Trinidad were in mature montane rainforest and one was in secondary montane rainforest. All were nesting in rotten sticks on the forest floor. The colonies contained a single queen and fewer than 200 workers. One of the five nests contained a seed cache. In a colony maintained in an artificial nest by Cover, the minors defended the nest against fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) allowed to forage in the vicinity, but the large majors ("soldiers") hid inside the nest, leading Cover to feel some concern over having a species named in his honor that displays such a conspicuous degree of cowardly behavior. (Actually, he agreed that majors highly specialized to serve as seed millers often avoid combat.) (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known from the type locality, and from a series collected at El Espinal, near Michelena, Tachira, Venezuela (col. J. Lattke). (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Trinidad and Tobago (type locality), Venezuela.

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 coveri casent0627918 h 1 high.jpgPheidole coveri casent0627918 p 1 high.jpgPheidole coveri casent0627918 d 1 high.jpgPheidole coveri casent0627918 p 4 high.jpgPheidole coveri casent0627918 l 1 high.jpg
Paratype Pheidole coveriWorker. Specimen code casent0627918. Photographer Jeremy Pilllow, uploaded by University of Utah. Owned by MCZC.

Major

Images from AntWeb

Pheidole coveri jtlc000016351 p 4 high.jpg
Paratype Pheidole coveriWorker (major/soldier). Specimen code jtlc000016351. Photographer Jeremy Pilllow, uploaded by University of Utah. Owned by MCZC.

Nomenclature

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

  • coveri. Pheidole coveri Wilson, 2003: 676, figs. (s.w.) TRINIDAD.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

DIAGNOSIS Similar in various traits to Pheidole antillana, Pheidole gauthieri and Pheidole hetschkoi, differing as follows.

Major: mostly reddish yellow; all of promesonotum rugoreticulate; rugoreticulum on head extends from antennal fossa back to the outer portions of the vertex; rest ofthe dorsal surface of the head variously carinulate or rugulose; humerus in dorsal-oblique view elevated to 2X the height of the mesonotal convexity above the metanotal groove; postpetiole spinose.

Minor: most of head and me so soma rugoreticulate, as illustrated; occiput broad and with thin nuchal collar; propodeal spines equilaterally triangular.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.50, HL 1.60, SL 0.66, EL 0.14, PW 0.78. Paratype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.70, SL 0.64, EL 0.10, PW 0.46.

COLOR Major: most of body and appendages light reddish yellow ("orange"); mandibles, anterior rim ofmidclypeus, and all of lateral wings of clypeus plain medium brown; gaster light reddish brown.

Minor: concolorous light reddish yellow except for gaster, which is plain medium brown.


Pheidole coveri Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Paratype Specimen Labels

Type Material

TRINIDAD: Windblow Ridge, Arima Valley, St. George Co., 550 m, col. Stefan Cover. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

Named after the accomplished collector, myrmecologist and field biologist Stefan Cover.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.