Pheidole rugithorax

Pheidole rugithorax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. rugithorax
Binomial name
	Pheidole rugithorax; Eguchi, 2008 Specimen Labels

Nothing is known about the biology of Pheidole rugithorax.

Identification

Eguchi (2008) - In Southeast Asia I have recognized two Pheidole species (P. sp. eg-141 and P. sp. eg-174) which, in the major worker, much resemble each other and are also very similar to Pheidole protea. Practically these three are hard to separate in the major (and so Eguchi (2004) determined P. sp. eg-141 as P. protea). However, P. sp. eg-141 and P. sp. eg-174 are separable from each other by the characteristics of the minor. In the minor of P. sp. eg-141 the promesonotal dome is sculptured by rugulae at least laterally, and its humeral area is strongly maked with rugulae and often armed with a low humeral prominence. On the other hand, in the minor of P. sp. eg-174, the dome is almost smooth and shining, and its humeral area is neither marked with rugulae nor armed with a humeral prominence. Since P. protea was described solely based on the major, the assignment of either of P. sp. eg-141 or P. sp. eg-174 to P. protea would be impossible until decisive characters useful in separating these three in the major are found. In this situation it seems unreasonable to leave P. sp. eg- 141 and P. sp. eg-174 unnamed. Here I describe P. sp. eg-141 and P. sp. eg-174 as new species (Pheidole rugithorax sp.n. and Pheidole laevithorax sp.n., respectively).

Keys including this Species

Key to the Pheidole of North Vietnam

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 21.91963889° to 21.91122222°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Vietnam (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

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb


Paratype of Pheidole rugithorax. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0905871. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.


Paratype of Pheidole rugithorax. Worker. Specimen code casent0905872. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Nomenclature

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

rugithorax. Pheidole rugithorax Eguchi, 2008: 84, figs. 23a-g (s.w.q.) VIETNAM.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Holotype (major). —HL 1.21 mm; HW 1.18 mm; CI 98; SL 0.72 mm; SI 61; FL 0.91 mm; FI 77. Nontype major (n=4). — HL 1.01–1.21 mm; HW 0.96–1.18 mm; CI 95–99; SL 0.64–0.72 mm; SI 61–69; FL 0.77–0.91 mm; FI 77–85. Minor (n=5, including one paratype minor, for HL, HW, CI, SL, SI; n=4 including one paratype minor, for FL, FI). — HL 0.55–0.67 mm; HW 0.49–0.59 mm; CI 86–89; SL 0.64–0.76 mm; SI 123–137; FL 0.66–0.81 mm; FI 135–145.

Major — Head in lateral view not impressed on vertex; dorsum of head sparsely bearing long standing hairs which are unclearly distinguished from shorter and thinner background hairs; frons rugose longitudinally; vertex reticulate or rugoso-reticulate; dorsal and dorsolateral faces of vertexal lobe reticulate; frontal carina conspicuous; antennal scrobe inconspicous or very shallow; median longitudial carina of clypeus absent, or present but weak; median and submedian processes of hypostoma absent or inconspicuous; lateral processes developed well, located rather ventrally; antenna with a 3-segmented club; maximal diameter of eye almost as long as, or a little longer than antennal segment X. Promesonotal dome in dorsal view reticulate, or transversely rugose or rugoso-reticulate, in lateral view with a low or inconspicouous mound on its posterior slope; humerus of the dome not or hardly produced; the dome at the humeri narrower than at the bottom; petiole almost as long as, or a little longer than postpetiole (excluding helcium). Petiolar node in lateral view subangulate dorsally; postpetiole massive. First gastral tergite smooth and shining entirely.

Minor — Frons smooth to shagreened; vertex smooth, shagreened or sculptured (rugoso-reticulate or rugoso-punctate); dorsolateral face of head behind eye rugoso-reticulate or rugoso-punctate at least weakly; preoccipital carina conspicuous to weak dorsally and aterally; median part of clypeus smooth and shining, without a median longitudinal carina; antenna with a 3-segmented club; scape extending far beyond postero-lateral margin of head; maximal diameter of eye almost as long as, or a little shorter than antennal segment X. Promesonotal dome in lateral view usually flattend dorsally (but rarely convex as in the minor of colony Eg01-TH-084), with a low or inconspicuous mound on its posterior slope; dorsum of the dome rugoso-reticulate, or smooth to shagreened but sparsely sculptured with rugulae; lateral face of the dome rugoso-reticulate or rugoso-punctate at least weakly; humeral area of the dome marked with rugulae, and often forming a low prominence; mesopleuron, metapleuron and lateral face of propodeum punctured or rugoso-punctate weakly, or largely smooth. Petiole as long as or shorter than postpetiole (excluding helcium); postpetiole massive.

Type Material

Holotype: major, Pha Lai (near forestry station), Pu Mat N.P., Nghe An, N. Vietnam [K. Eguchi leg., colony: Eg26iii06-09] (IEBR), examined; paratypes: 13 majors, 15 minors & 1 queen from the same colony as holotype (Entomological Collection of the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève & Katsuyuki Eguchi), examined.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Eguchi K. 2008. A revision of Northern Vietnamese species of the ant genus Pheidole (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Zootaxa 1902: 1-118.
Eguchi K.; Bui T. V.; Yamane S. 2011. Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), part I Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmecinae. Zootaxa 2878: 1-61.
Fontanilla A. M., A. Nakamura, Z. Xu, M. Cao, R. L. Kitching, Y. Tang, and C. J. Burwell. 2019. Taxonomic and functional ant diversity along tropical, subtropical, and subalpine elevational transects in southwest China. Insects 10, 128; doi:10.3390/insects10050128
Liu C, B. Guénard, F Hita Garcia, S. Yamane, B. Blanchard, and E. Economo. New records of ant species from Yunnan, China. Submitted to Zookeys
Zryanin V. A. 2011. An eco-faunistic review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In: Structure and functions of soil communities of a monsoon tropical forest (Cat Tien National Park, southern Vietnam) / A.V. Tiunov (Editor). – M.: KMK Scientific Press. 2011. 277 р.101-124.