Pheidole roushae

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pheidole roushae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Pheidole
Species: P. roushae
Binomial name
Pheidole roushae
Wilson, 2003

Pheidole roushae casent0610898 p 1 high.jpg

Pheidole roushae casent0610898 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

The type series was collected in a shaded cafetal, a tropical forest with planted coffee. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Only known from the type locality.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 19.331648° to 10.808°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (type locality).

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.
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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

Pheidole roushae casent0610899 h 1 high.jpgPheidole roushae casent0610899 p 1 high.jpgPheidole roushae casent0610899 d 1 high.jpgPheidole roushae casent0610899 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0610899. Photographer M. Pierce, uploaded by University of Utah. Owned by JTLC.

Nomenclature

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

  • roushae. Pheidole roushae Wilson, 2003: 344, figs. (s.w.) MEXICO.

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, very distinct but with some similarities to Pheidole fallax, Pheidole jelskii, Pheidole obscurithorax, Pheidole puttemansi and Pheidole valens, recognizable as follows.

Major: reddish yellow; head quadrate; antennal scape very long, slightly surpassing occipital lobe in repose; frontal lobes rugoreticulate; all of space between eyes, circular carinulae of antennal fossae and anterior genal margins rugoreticulate; posterior half of head foveolate and opaque, with scattered, short, irregular rugulae scattered over the dorsal surface of the occipital lobes; petiolar node very thick in side view, its apex broadly rounded; anterior fourth of middle strip of first gastral tergite shagreened.

Minor: eye large and set well forward, its anterior margin only slightly more distant from the anterior clypeal margin than Eye Length; entire head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate; petiolar node in side view thick, its apex broadly rounded.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.14, HL 1.20, SL 1.04, EL 0.20, PW 0.60. Paratype minor: HW 0.60, HL 0.78, SL 1.04, EL 0.16, PW 0.44.

COLOR Major: reddish yellow (“orange”).

Minor: concolorous medium yellow.


Pheidole roushae Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

MEXICO: Sierra Teoviscocla, near Cuichapa, Veracruz, 1600 m, col. Cornell University Mexico Field Party, 1965. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

Named in honor of Sal Roush, in recognition of her outstanding contribution in service and support to tropical conservation, hence the habitats in which the Pheidole ants will continue to survive.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
  • Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
  • Smith M. A., W. Hallwachs, D. H. Janzen. 2014. Diversity and phylogenetic community structure of ants along a Costa Rican elevational gradient. Ecography 37(8): 720-731.
  • 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