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Pheidole portalensis
| Pheidole portalensis | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Pheidole |
| Species: | P. portalensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Pheidole portalensis Wilson, 2003
| |
Stefan Cover reports (personal communication) that “portalensis is an inhabitant of rock walls, where it nests in cracks, in elevations from 1100 to 1800 m. Colonies consist of several hundred ants or more. Minors forage singly on the rock faces, and recruit regularly to good food sources. Baiting is the only reliable way to locate colonies.” (Wilson 2003)
Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Known from the mountains of southern Arizona, from the Santa Catalinas in the north to the Pajaritos in the west and east to the type locality. (Wilson 2003)
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 33.79166667° to 29.26888889°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: Mexico.
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. |
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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
Worker
Minor
Images from AntWeb
  
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| Worker. Specimen code casent0102891. Photographer Jen Fogarty, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA. |
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- portalensis. Pheidole portalensis Wilson, 2003: 338, figs. (s.w.) U.S.A.
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 fallax group, similar to Pheidole ariel, Pheidole desertorum, Pheidole hyatti, Pheidole sitiens, Pheidole skwarrae, Pheidole vistana, and distinguished as follows.
Major: no rugoreticulum on head or anywhere else on body; antennal scapes just attain the occipital border; entire head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; almost all of first two gastral tergites shagreened and opaque; carinulae around midline of head dorsum attain occiput; midclypeus faintly carinulate; mesonotal convexity very low.
Minor: entire head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque; entire median strip of first two gastral tergites shagreened; mesonotal convexity very low; occiput narrowed, with nuchal collar.
MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.40, HL 1.50, SL 1.30, EL 0.24, PW 0.66. Paratype minor: HW 0.74, HL 0.96, SL 1.28, EL 0.20, PW 0.50.
COLOR Major: body and appendages light reddish brown except for gaster, which is plain medium brown.
Minor: body light reddish brown except for gaster, which is plain medium brown; appendages reddish yellow.
Figure. Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.
Type Material
ARIZONA: Southwest Research Station (American Museum of Natural History), 8 km west of Portal, Cochise Co., 1650 m, col. William L. Brown. Museum of Comparative Zoology
Etymology
Referring to the type locality.
References
- Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 338, fig. major, minor described)
- Alatorre-Bracamontes, C.E., Vásquez-Bolaños, M. 2010. Lista comentada de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del norte de México. Dugesiana 17(1): 9-36.
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Cover S. P., and R. A. Johnson. 20011. Checklist of Arizona Ants. Downloaded on January 7th at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/AZants-2011%20updatev2.pdf
- Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
- Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
- Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
- Wilson, E.O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Genus. Harvard University Press