Pheidole acutidens

Pheidole acutidens
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species group:	fallax
Species:	P. acutidens
Binomial name
Pheidole acutidens (Santschi, 1922) Specimen Labels

Pheidole acutidens is a permanent workerless parasite of Pheidole nitidula . The discoverer of this remarkable species, Carlos Bruch (1931), has provided extensive notes on its anatomy, ecology, behavior, and life cycle. (Wilson 2003)

At a Glance

• Workerless Inquiline  • Brachypterous Male

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

• Key to New World Pheidole Social Parasites

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -27.484417° to -35.96375°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina (type locality), Brazil.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Castes

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Pheidole acutidens. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0913258. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

• acutidens. Bruchomyrma acutidens Santschi, 1922d: 249, figs. A-D (q.) ARGENTINA. Bruch, 1931: 31 (m.). Combination in Pheidole: Wilson, 1984: 327. See also: Wheeler, W.M. 1937c: 52; Wilson, 2003: 260.

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

Description

From Wilson (2003): An extreme workerless social parasite of Pheidole nitidula, with adaptations that make it unique within the genus.

Queen: with 9- to 11-segmented antennae and minute, falcate toothless mandibles that taper to needle-sharp points.

Male: pupiform, with mandibles vestigial or absent.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Syntype queen: HW 0.40, HL 0.42, SL 0.72, EL 0.12, PW 0.58.

COLOR Queen: yellowish brown.

Figure. Queen. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Specimen Labels

Type Material

ARGENTINA: La Plata, Buenos Aires, col. Carlos Bruch. Type locality: Alta Gracia (La Granja). Sierra de Córdoba, Argentina. Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

L acutidens, sharp-pointed tooth apparently referring to the reduced, acute mandible. (Wilson 2003)

References

• Ferreira, A.C., M.F.O. Martins, and R.M. Feitosa 2016. Rediscovery of the morphologically remarkable social parasite Pheidole acutidens (Santschi, 1922), with the first records for Brazil. Sociobiology 63(4):1069-1072.
• Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 260, fig. queen described)
• Bruch, C. 1931. Notas biológicas y sistemáticas acerca de Bruchomyrma acutidens Santschi. Rev. Mus. La Plata 33: 31-55. (page 31, male described)
• Casadei-Ferreira, A., Economo, E.P., Feitosa, R.M. 2020. Additions to the taxonomy of Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the southern grasslands of Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 64(4):e20200068 (doi:10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0068).
• de la Mora, A., Sankovitz, M., Purcell, J. 2020. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as host and intruder: recent advances and future directions in the study of exploitative strategies. Myrmecological News 30: 53-71 (doi:10.25849/MYRMECOL.NEWS_030:053).
• Ferreira, A., Martins, M., Feitosa, R. 2016. Rediscovery of the morphologically remarkable social parasite Pheidole acutidens (Bruch), with the first records for Brazil. Sociobiology 63, 1069. (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v63i4.1263).
• Santschi, F. 1922e. Description de nouvelles fourmis de l'Argentine et pays limitrophes. An. Soc. Cient. Argent. 94: 241-262 (page 249, figs. A-D queen described)
• Wheeler, W. M. 1937c. Mosaics and other anomalies among ants. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 95 pp. (page 52, see also)
• Wilson, E. O. 1984b. Tropical social parasites in the ant genus Pheidole, with an analysis of the anatomical parasitic syndrome (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insectes Soc. 31: 316-334 (page 327, Combination in Pheidole)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).