Pheidole navigans

Pheidole navigans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. navigans
Binomial name
Pheidole navigans Forel, 1901 Specimen Labels

This species occurs in both disturbed areas and moist woodlands but rarely enters houses (Deyrup, Davis, & Cover, 2000). It is not considered a major pest; however, in the south-east of the United States, it has been expanding its distribution area since its first record (Sarnat et al., 2015; Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

At a Glance

• Invasive

Identification

Pheidole navigans is a small, short-limbed, reddish-brown species belonging to the P. flavens complex. Minor workers are impossible to distinguish on the basis of morphological characters, but major can be separated from other species of the P. flavens complex. The distinctive characters are the combination of predominantly longitudinal rugae on their posterolateral lobes, the more distinct and narrower antennal scrobe bordered mesially by a strong, unbroken frontal carina and the more continuously glossy scrobe depression (Sarnat et al., 2015; Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

Distribution

Pheidole navigans is thought to be native to the Neotropical region (centre and north of South America) and has been introduced into the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions (Sarnat et al., 2015; Wetterer, 2017). In the Canary Islands, it was only collected in a farming area in the north of Tenerife (Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Mexico (type locality).

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.

Biology

This species is known to remove seeds (Atchison & Lucky, 2022).

Flight Period

						X	X
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Source: antkeeping.info.

• Check details at Worldwide Ant Nuptial Flights Data, AntNupTracker and AntKeeping.

 Explore: Show all Flight Month data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0005743. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by UCDC, Davis, CA, USA.

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0104413. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0104414. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0104525. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Worker. Specimen code casent0104526. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Nomenclature

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

• navigans. Pheidole flavens r. navigans Forel, 1901h: 79 (s.w.) GERMANY (intercepted in quarantine, from Mexico). Subspecies of flavens: Emery, 1922e: 107. Junior synonym of flavens: Wilson, 2003: 419. Status as species: Sarnat, et al. 2015: 57 (redescription).

References

• Atchison, R. A., Lucky, A. 2022. Diversity and resilience of seed-removing ant species in Longleaf Sandhill to frequent fire. Diversity 14, 1012 (doi:10.3390/d14121012).
• Forel, A. 1901m. Formiciden des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Hamburg. Neue Calyptomyrmex-, Dacryon-, Podomyrma- und Echinopla-Arten. Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hambg. 18: 43-82 (page 79, soldier, worker described)
• Gochnour, B.M., Suiter, D.R., Booher, D. 2019. Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) fauna of the Marine Port of Savannah, Garden City, Georgia (USA). Journal of Entomological Science 54, 417-429 (doi:10.18474/jes18-132).
• Guillem, R., Bensusan, K. 2022. Thee new exotic species of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) for Madeira, with comments on its myrmecofauna. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 91: 321–333 (doi:10.3897/jhr.91.81624).
• Hernández-Teixidor, D., Pérez-Delgado, A.J., Daniel Suárez, D., Reyes-López, J. 2020. Six new non-native ants (Formicidae) in the Canary Islands and their possible impacts. Journal of Applied Entomology 00:1–8 (doi:10.1111/jen.12751).
• MacGown, J.A., Booher, D., Richter, H., Wetterer, J.K., Hill, J.G. 2021. An updated list of ants of Alabama (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with new state records. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 147: 961-981 (doi:10.3157/061.147.0409).
• Rosas-Mejía, M., Guénard, B., Aguilar-Méndez, M. J., Ghilardi, A., Vásquez-Bolaños, M., Economo, E. P., Janda, M. 2021. Alien ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Mexico: the first database of records. Biological Invasions 23(6), 1669–1680 (doi:10.1007/s10530-020-02423-1).
• Sarnat, E. M., G. Fischer, B. Guenard, and E. P. Economo. 2015. Introduced Pheidole of the world: taxonomy, biology and distribution. Zookeys 543: 1-109 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050).
• Wetterer, J.K. 2017. Invasive ants of Bermuda revisited. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 54, 33–41 (doi:10.3897/jhr.54.11444).
• Wetterer, J.K. 2021. Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of St. Vincent, West Indies. Sociobiology 68, e6725 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v68i2.6725).
• Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, [ix] + 794 pp.: 794pp (page 419, Junior synonym of flavens)
• Yung, O., MacGown, J.A. 2024. New records of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Mississippi. Transactions American Entomological Society 150: 239-242.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Sarnat E. M., G. Fischer, B. Guénard,and E. P. Economo. 2015. Introduced Pheidole of the world: taxonomy, biology and distribution. ZooKeys 533: 1-109.