Pheidole tanyscapa

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole tanyscapa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. tanyscapa
Binomial name
Pheidole tanyscapa
Wilson, 2003

From Wilson (2003): Nests in soil in mature rainforest; workers forage on the ground and into low vegetation, at least to some extent nocturnally (Longino 1997). One colony at La Selva was nesting in the soil (M. Byrne).

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica to 800 m (Longino 1997).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.430767° to 9.4817844°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality), Nicaragua, Panama.

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.

  • tanyscapa. Pheidole tanyscapa Wilson, 2003: 237, figs. (s.w.) COSTA RICA.

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

Description

A member of the diligens group, close to Pheidole longiscapa and Pheidole rochai, and distinguished by the following set of traits.

Major: antennal scape exceeding the occiput by 2! the scape maximum width; propodeal spines half as long as the propodeal basal face anterior to them; anterior margin of propodeum rugulose; carinulae absent from genae.

Minor: scapes exceed occipital corner by half their length; propodeal spines half as long as the basal propodeal face; anterior margin of the pronotum transversely carinulate; mesonotal convexity tilted forward on mesonotum, subangular, and marginally carinulate.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.00, HL 1.02, SL 0.96, EL 0.20, PW 0.54. Paratype minor: HW 0.60, HL 0.74, SL 1.10, EL 0.16, PW 0.46.

COLOR Major and minor: concolorous dark yellow.


Pheidole tanyscapa Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo, Heredia, col. E. O. Wilson. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

Gr tanyscapa, with stretched-out stem, alluding to the elongated antennal scape.

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.
  • Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
  • Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
  • Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
  • Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
  • Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/