Pheidole fimbriata

Pheidole fimbriata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species group:	tristis
Species:	P. fimbriata
Binomial name
Pheidole fimbriata Roger, 1863 Specimen labels
Synonyms
Pheidole diversa Smith, F., 1860 Pheidole fimbriata tucumana Forel, 1913 Pheidole smithii Dalla Torre, 1892

An inhabitant of tropical forests. At La Selva, Costa Rica, Longino (1997) found large numbers of minors and majors foraging at night over the ground from a soil nest. An incipient colony was discovered in a dead stick on the forest floor. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Pheidole tristis group

Distribution

One of the most widespread of all Neotropical ant species, recorded from Veracruz, Mexico, through Central and South America (including Trinidad) to Misiones, northern Argentina. (Wilson 2003)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 25.68015° to -31.632389°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

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

Worker

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0178018. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0178016. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0178019. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.

Nomenclature

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

• fimbriata. Pheidole fimbriata Roger, 1863a: 196 (s.) "Rio Paraguay". Mayr, 1887: 598 (w.).
  • Combination in P. (Macropheidole): Emery, 1915i: 190.
  • Senior synonym of diversa, smithii (unnecessary replacement name): Kempf, 1965: 183.
  • Senior synonym of tucumana: Wilson, 2003: 690.
• diversa. Pheidole diversa Smith, F. 1860c: 74 (s.w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of fimbriata: Kempf, 1965: 183.
• smithii. Pheidole smithii Dalla Torre, 1892: 90. [Unnecessary replacement name for diversa.] Junior synonym of fimbriata: Kempf, 1965: 183.
• tucumana. Pheidole fimbriata var. tucumana Forel, 1913l: 228 (s.) ARGENTINA. Forel, 1915c: 355 (w.). Combination in P. (Macropheidole): Emery, 1921f: 81. Junior synonym of fimbriata: Wilson, 2003: 690.

Type Material

• Pheidole fimbriata: Syntype, worker(s), "Rio Paraguay", possibly in either Mus. Naturkunde Humboldt-Univ. Berlin, or Paris Museum; not located by Wilson (2003).

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): DIAGNOSIS A very large, small-eyed species immediately recognizable in the major by the dense fringe of short, suberect to erect hairs on the petiolar peduncle and entire venters of the petiole and postpetiole; the concave profile of the posterior dorsum of the head in side view; the large, stout propodeal spines; and the spinose postpetiolar node.

Minor: very small eyes, angular humerus in dorsal-oblique view, and with a fringe of short hairs on venter of petiole.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Major (Benjamin Constant, Brazil): HW 2.60, HL 2.88, SL 1.20, EL 0.20, PW 1.06. Minor (Benjamin Constant): HW 0.84, HL 0.90, SL 0.84, EL 0.06, PW 0.52.

COLOR Major: medium to dark reddish brown.

Minor: concolorous brownish yellow.

Figure. Upper: major. Lower: minor. BRAZIL: Benjamin Constant, Amazonas, col. W. L. Brown. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Etymology

L fimbriata, fringed, probably alluding to the pilosity on the venter of the waist. (Wilson 2003)

References

• Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 690, fig. major, minor described, Senior synonym of tucumana)
• Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
• Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
• 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).
• Emery, C. 1915g. Noms de sous-genres et de genres proposés pour la sous-famille des Myrmicinae. Modifications à la classification de ce groupe (Hymenoptera Formicidae). Bull. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 1915: 189-192 (page 190, Combination in P. (Macropheidole))
• Franco, W., Ladino, N., Delabie, J.H.C., Dejean, A., Orivel, J., Fichaux, M., Groc, S., Leponce, M., Feitosa, R.M. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674, 509–543 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4674.5.2).
• Kempf, W. W. 1965. Nota preliminar sôbre algumas formigas neotrópicas, descritas por Frederick Smith (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Biol. 25: 181-186 (page 183, senior synonym of diversa and smithii (unnecessary replacement name))
• Ladino, N., Feitosa, R.M. 2022. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Parque Estadual São Camilo, an isolated Atlantic Forest remnant in western Paraná, Brazil. ZOOLOGIA 39: e22001 (doi:10.1590/S1984-4689.v39.e22001).
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• Mayr, G. 1887. Südamerikanische Formiciden. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 37: 511-632 (page 598, worker described)
• Roger, J. 1863a. Die neu aufgeführten Gattungen und Arten meines Formiciden-Verzeichnisses nebst Ergänzung einiger früher gegebenen Beschreibungen. Berl. Entomol. Z. 7: 131-214 (page 196, soldier described)
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References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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