Pheidole risii

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole risii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. risii
Binomial name
Pheidole risii
Forel, 1892

Pheidole risii casent0908198 p 1 high.jpg

Pheidole risii casent0908198 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Rosumek (2017) assessed trophic resource use and period of activity within the ant community in a southern Brazil Atlantic forest. He found this species was a quintessential generalist.

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

From Wilson (2003): In addition to the type locality, risii has been recorded from São Paulo, Brazil (Kempf 1972b).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -23.5333° to -34.09145°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina (type locality), Brazil.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
pChart

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.
pChart

Biology

Castes

Worker

Minor

Images from AntWeb

Pheidole risii casent0908199 h 1 high.jpgPheidole risii casent0908199 p 1 high.jpgPheidole risii casent0908199 d 1 high.jpgPheidole risii casent0908199 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Pheidole risiiWorker. Specimen code casent0908199. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

  • risii. Pheidole risii Forel, 1892a: 38 (s.w.q.m.) ARGENTINA. See also: Wilson, 2003: 740.

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 Similar in various traits to Pheidole aper, Pheidole bambusarum, Pheidole brevicona, Pheidole dyctiota, Pheidole laeviventris, Pheidole lutzi, Pheidole rugatula, Pheidole senilis, Pheidole sigillata, Pheidole trachyderma and Pheidole traini, differing as follows.

Major: shallow antennal scrobes; pilosity along dorsal profile of head dense, with uniform short hairs about as long as Eye Length along the posterior half and much longer hairs along the anterior half; occipital cleft deep; occipital lobes smooth and subangulate; pronotum sparsely carinulate, mostly smooth; propodeal spine very stout, equilaterally triangular; postpetiolar node very broad, 2X broader than petiolar node, and spinose.

Minor: occiput, humeri, and propodeal dorsum rugoreticulate; almost all of head and mesosoma foveolate; occiput broad, concave, and lacking nuchal collar.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Syntype major: HW 0.96, HL 1.02, SL 0.44, EL 0.12, PW 0.54. Syntype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.66, SL 0.62, EL 0.12, PW 0.44.

COLOR Major: body reddish yellow except for gaster, which is yellowish brown.

Minor: concolorous dark yellow.


Pheidole risii Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Specimen Labels

Type Material

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires, col. Fr. Ris. Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève and Museum of Comparative Zoology - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology

Named after the collector, Fr. Ris. (Wilson 2003)

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Calcaterra L. A., F. Cuezzo, S. M. Cabrera, and J. A. Briano. 2010. Ground ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Ibera nature reserve, the largest wetland of Argentina. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 103(1): 71-83.
  • Drose W., L. R. Podgaiski, C. Fagundes Dias, M. de Souza Mendonca. 2019. Local and regional drivers of ant communities in forest-grassland ecotones in South Brazil: A taxonomic and phylogenetic approach. Plos ONE 14(4): e0215310.
  • Favretto M. A., E. Bortolon dos Santos, and C. J. Geuster. 2013. Entomofauna from West of Santa Catarina State, South of Brazil. EntomoBrasilis 6 (1): 42-63.
  • Forel A. 1908. Ameisen aus Sao Paulo (Brasilien), Paraguay etc. gesammelt von Prof. Herm. v. Ihering, Dr. Lutz, Dr. Fiebrig, etc. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 58: 340-418.
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Kusnezov N. 1952. El género Pheidole en la Argentina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zoologica Lilloana 12: 5-88.
  • Kusnezov N. 1978. Hormigas argentinas: clave para su identificación. Miscelánea. Instituto Miguel Lillo 61:1-147 + 28 pl.
  • Luederwaldt H. 1918. Notas myrmecologicas. Rev. Mus. Paul. 10: 29-64.
  • Lutinski J. A., B. C. Lopes, and A. B. B.de Morais. 2013. Diversidade de formigas urbanas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de dez cidades do sul do Brasil. Biota Neotrop. 13(3): 332-342.
  • Piva A., and A. E. de C. Campos. 2012. Ant Community Structure (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Two Neighborhoods with Different Urban Profiles in the City of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Psyche 2012 (390748): 1-8
  • Rosa da Silva R. 1999. Formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) do oeste de Santa Catarina: historico das coletas e lista atualizada das especies do Estado de Santa Catarina. Biotemas 12(2): 75-100.
  • Santschi F. 1916. Descriptions de fourmis nouvelles d'Afrique et d'Amérique. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 84: 497-513.
  • Santschi F. 1916. Formicides sudaméricains nouveaux ou peu connus. Physis (Buenos Aires). 2: 365-399.