Pheidole nuculiceps

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole nuculiceps
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. nuculiceps
Binomial name
Pheidole nuculiceps
Wheeler, W.M., 1908

MCZ-ENT00022805 Pheidole nuculiceps hal.jpg

MCZ-ENT00022805 Pheidole nuculiceps had.jpg

Type Label

This species is only known from type specimens. Nothing is known about its biology.

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Only known from the type locality.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 30.33° to 23.57°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: Mexico.

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.

  • nuculiceps. Pheidole nuculiceps Wheeler, W.M. 1908e: 473 (s.w.) U.S.A. See also: Wilson, 2003: 475.

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 member of the “flavens complex” within the larger flavens group, also including Pheidole asperithorax, Pheidole breviscapa (=Pheidole perpusilla), Pheidole cardiella, Pheidole striaticeps, Pheidole exigua, Pheidole flavens, Pheidole goeldii, Pheidole mittermeieri, Pheidole moerens, Pheidole nitidicollis, Pheidole pholeops, Pheidole sculptior and Pheidole trinitatis, differing in the following combination of traits.

Major: shallow antennal scrobes present, their surfaces smooth and shiny; parallel longitudinal carinulae cover all of the head surface (including the occiput) except for the center of the clypeus and frontal triangle; anterior and lateral margins of the pronotal dorsum carinulate; mesosoma and sides of waist foveolate and opaque; the strongly convex promesonotum descends to the metanotal groove through a distinct 45-degree posterior face; propodeal spines well-developed.

Minor: carinulae limited to anterior half of head capsule, including lateral margins of the frontal lobes; all of the head and mesosoma, and sides of the waist, foveolate and opaque; the remainder of the body smooth and shiny; propodeal spines well-developed.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.78, HL 0.76, SL 0.64, EL 0.10, PW 0.40. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.44, HL 0.50, SL 0.42, EL 0.08, PW 0.30.

COLOR Major and minor: body concolorous light reddish yellow (“orange”); appendages clear medium yellow.


Pheidole nuculiceps Wilson 2003.jpg

Figure. Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.

Type Material

TEXAS: New Braunfels, col. William M. Wheeler. Museum of Comparative Zoology - as reported in Wilson (2003)

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Alatorre-Bracamontes, C.E. and M Vasquez-Bolanos. 2010. Lista comentada de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del norte de México. Dugesiana 17(1):9-36
  • Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
  • Gregg R. E. 1959. Key to the species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the United States. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 66: 7-48.
  • O'Keefe S. T., J. L. Cook, T. Dudek, D. F. Wunneburger, M. D. Guzman, R. N. Coulson, and S. B. Vinson. 2000. The Distribution of Texas Ants. The Southwestern Entomologist 22: 1-92.
  • Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
  • Wheeler W. M. 1908. The ants of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. (Part I.). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 24: 399-485.
  • Wheeler, G.C. and J. Wheeler. 1985. A checklist of Texas ants. Prairie Naturalist 17:49-64.
  • Wilson, E.O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Genus. Harvard University Press