Pheidole jelskii

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Pheidole jelskii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species group: fallax
Species: P. jelskii
Binomial name
Pheidole jelskii
Mayr, 1884

Pheidole jelskii casent0178031 profile 1.jpg

Pheidole jelskii casent0178031 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Synonyms

P. jelskii is a species that nests in bare soil and open spaces. As such it is well adapted to disturbed habitats of all kinds, from cultivated fields to pastures to roadsides, as well as marginal natural environments such as beaches and river banks. In many places it is extremely abundant, although colony densities vary locally. In the early 1890s H. H. Smith (in Forel 1893j) encountered it only twice on St. Vincent, which given the intensity of his collecting, suggests relative rarity, whereas in the 1990s Stefan Cover and I found it ubiquitous and in dense populations in the nearby islands of Grenada and Barbados. Mature colonies are large, with worker populations numbering into the many hundreds or even thousands. They typically construct conspicuous crater nests with slit-shaped entrances in open soil, but also less regular nests with irregular entrances in vertical banks of soil in heavily disturbed locations. The minors forage singly over distances of up to ten meters or more, and are extremely swift and efficient at laying odor trails over even very loose soil to recruit other minors as well as majors to dead insects and sugar baits. The majors release a strong fetid odor, possibly from skatole, when the colonies are disturbed. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the extensive discussion by Wetterer et al. (2015) in the identification section of Pheidole obscurithorax and the description and images by Wilson (2003) in the nomenclature section below.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Widespread throughout the West Indies, thence south through South America to southeastern Brazil and northern Argentina. (Wilson 2003)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 25.074° to -31.365°.

     
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Dominican Republic, French Guiana (type locality), Greater Antilles, Grenada, Haiti, Netherlands Antilles, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
pChart

Biology


San Cristóbal, República Dominicana. Video by Judá Isaí Martínez Uribe.

Wheeler (1905), Bahamas - This species is carnivorous. Its nests are flat moundlets, about four inches in diameter, built in sandy, grassy places. The soldiers have the rank odor so characteristic of the ants belonging to the genus Eciton.

Association with Other Organisms

Explore-icon.png Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

This species is a host for the strepsipteran Caenocholax fenyesi (a parasite) (Cook, 2019).

Castes

Worker

Minor

MCZ-ENT00020688 Pheidole jelskii-hef.jpgMCZ-ENT00020688 Pheidole jelskii-hal.jpgMCZ-ENT00020688 Pheidole jelskii-had.jpgMCZ-ENT00020688 Pheidole jelskii-var.jpgMCZ-ENT00022819 Pheidole jelskii-hal.jpgMCZ-ENT00022819 Pheidole jelskii-had.jpgMCZ-ENT00022819 Pheidole jelskii-var.jpg
. Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Major

MCZ-ENT00020689 Pheidole fallax-f.jpgMCZ-ENT00020689 Pheidole fallax-l.jpgMCZ-ENT00020689 Pheidole fallax-d.jpgMCZ-ENT00020689 Pheidole fallax-r.jpg
. Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Nomenclature

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

  • jelskii. Pheidole jelskii Mayr, 1884: 34 (s.w.) FRENCH GUIANA. Forel, 1893g: 400 (q.m.). Subspecies of fallax: Forel, 1893g: 400. Raised to species: Emery, 1894g: 390. Subspecies of fallax: Emery, 1906c: 155; Forel, 1912f: 221. Raised to species, senior synonym of antillensis, arenicola, emiliae and material of the unavailable name retifera referred here: Wilson, 2003: 306.
  • arenicola. Pheidole jelskii var. arenicola Emery, 1894g: 390 (footnote) (s.w.) BRAZIL. Subspecies of fallax: Forel, 1908c: 370; Santschi, 1923d: 58. Junior synonym of jelskii: Wilson, 2003: 307.
  • antillensis. Pheidole jelskii var. antillensis Forel, 1901e: 356 (s.) ANTILLES. Subspecies of fallax: Bolton, 1995b: 317. Junior synonym of jelskii: Wilson, 2003: 307.
  • emiliae. Pheidole fallax r. emiliae Forel, 1901e: 352 (s.w.q.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of jelskii: Wilson, 2003: 307.

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

See the extensive discussion by Wetterer et al. (2015) in the identification section of Pheidole obscurithorax

Description

From Wilson (2003): A member of the fallax group, similar to Pheidole fallax, Pheidole obscurithorax, Pheidole puttemansi, Pheidole roushae, Pheidole tobini and Pheidole valens, and especially the common and widespread fallax, with which it is easily confused.

Major: posterior half of dorsal surface of head completely carinulate; pronotum transversely carinulate; anterior fourth to third of central strip of first gastral tergite shagreened; head tapered toward occiput in side view, as depicted.

P. jelskii differs from P. fallax as follows and as shown: in major, petiole distinctly lower and descending to the peduncle by a much less concave curve, and scapes longer (Scape Length/Head Width 0.60–0.70 as opposed to 0.50–0.59 in fallax major); and in minor, occiput much narrower and nuchal collar thinner than in fallax.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.48, HL 1.54, SL 1.00, EL 0.24, PW 0.80. Minor (Cuzco Amazónico, Madre de Dios, Peru): HW 0.56, HL 0.76, SL 1.00, EL 0.20, PW 0.42.

COLOR Major: body medium reddish brown, mandibles dark reddish brown.

Minor: body and most of appendages dark brown, often almost blackish brown, tarsi and mandibles light brown.


Pheidole jelskii Wilson 2003.jpg

Figure. Upper: unique holotype, major. Lower: minor (Cuzco Amazónico, near Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru, associated with major compared with lectotype). Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Material

Cayenne, French Guiana, collected by “M. Jelski”. Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

Named after the collector, M. Jelski. (Wilson 2003)

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
  • Buren W. F. 1982. Red imported fire ant now in Puerto Rico. Florida Entomologist 65: 188-189.
  • Cuezzo, F. 1998. Formicidae. Chapter 42 in Morrone J.J., and S. Coscaron (dirs) Biodiversidad de artropodos argentinos: una perspectiva biotaxonomica Ediciones Sur, La Plata. Pages 452-462.
  • Delsinne T., Y. Roisin, and M. Leponce. 2007. Spatial and temporal foraging overlaps in a Chacoan ground-foraging ant assemblage. Journal of Arid Environments 71: 29–44.
  • Forel A. 1901. Variétés myrmécologiques. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 45: 334-382.
  • Forel A. 1907. Formiciden aus dem Naturhistorischen Museum in Hamburg. II. Teil. Neueingänge seit 1900. Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hambg. 24: 1-20.
  • Forel A. 1908. Catálogo systemático da collecção de formigas do Ceará. Boletim do Museu Rocha 1(1): 62-69.
  • Forel A. 1909. Ameisen aus Guatemala usw., Paraguay und Argentinien (Hym.). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1909: 239-269.
  • Forel A. 1912. Formicides néotropiques. Part III. 3me sous-famille Myrmicinae (suite). Genres Cremastogaster et Pheidole. Mémoires de la Société Entomologique de Belgique. 19: 211-237.
  • Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Kusnezov N. 1953. La fauna mirmecológica de Bolivia. Folia Universitaria. Cochabamba 6: 211-229.
  • LeBrun, E.G., M. Moffett and D.A. Holway. 2011. Convergent evolution of levee building behavior among distantly related ant species in a floodplain ant assemblage. Insectes Sociaux 58:263-269
  • Mann W. M. 1916. The Stanford Expedition to Brazil, 1911, John C. Branner, Director. The ants of Brazil. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 60: 399-490
  • Menozzi C, Russo G. 1930. Contributo alla conoscenza della mirmecofauna della Repubblica Dominicana (Antille). Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura. Portici. 24: 148-173.
  • Morrison L. W. 1998. A review of Bahamian ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) biogeography. Journal of Biogeography 25: 561-571.
  • Perez-Gelabert D. E. 2008. Arthropods of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti): A checklist and bibliography. Zootaxa 1831:1-530.
  • Radoszkowsky O. 1884. Fourmis de Cayenne Française. Trudy Russkago Entomologicheskago Obshchestva 18: 30-39.
  • Santschi F. 1923. Pheidole et quelques autres fourmis néotropiques. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 63: 45-69.
  • Smith M. R. 1937. The ants of Puerto Rico. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 20: 819-875.
  • Smith M. R. 1942. The relationship of ants and other organisms to certain scale insects on coffee in Puerto Rico. Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico 26: 21-27.
  • Weber N. A. 1938. New ants from stomachs of Bufo marinus L. and Typhlops reticulatus (L). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 31: 207-210.
  • Weber N. A. 1938. The food of the giant toad, Bufo marinus (L.), in Trinidad and British Guiana with special reference to the ants. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 31: 499-503.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1905. The ants of the Bahamas, with a list of the known West Indian species. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 21: 79-135.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1908. The ants of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 24: 117-158.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1916. Ants collected in British Guiana by the expedition of the American Museum of Natural History during 1911. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 35: 1-14.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1919. The ants of Tobago Island. Psyche (Cambridge) 26: 113.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1922. The ants of Trinidad. American Museum Novitates 45: 1-16.
  • Wheeler W. M., and W. M. Mann. 1914. The ants of Haiti. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 33: 1-61.
  • Wheeler, William Morton. 1911. Ants Collected in Grenada, W.I. by Mr. C. T. Brues. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparitive Zoology at Harvard College. 54(5):166-172.
  • Wheeler, William Morton. 1936. Ants From Hispaniola and Mona Island. Bulletin: Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 80(2):192-211.
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