Pheidole megacephala melancholica

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Pheidole megacephala melancholica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. megacephala
Subspecies: P. megacephala melancholica
Trinomial name
Pheidole megacephala melancholica
Santschi, 1912

Taylor et al. (2018) observed this taxon in a Mangifera indica (mango) orchard in Benin, as prey of Oecophylla longinoda.

Identification

A member of the megacephala species group

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 4° to -3.125556°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast (type locality), Nigeria.

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

Nomenclature

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

  • melancholica. Pheidole punctulata st. melancholica Santschi, 1912b: 164 (s.w.) IVORY COAST. Bernard, 1953b: 225 (q.). Currently subspecies of megacephala: Emery, 1915j: 236; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 132.

Taxonomic Notes

Taylor et al. (2018) note that this taxon differs from the type Pheidole punctulata (CASENT0901316) in being dark red-brown and not yellow brown. They then treat it as a full species. This treatment has not been followed by other authors.

Description

References