Pheidole sagittaria

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

Pheidole sagittaria casent0635521 p 1 high.jpg

According to Longino (1997), sagittaria is common in mature wet forests. The two nests he found were, respectively, in a piece of rotten wood on the ground and under the loose bark of a dead tree trunk. (Wilson 2003)

Identification

See the description in the nomenclature section.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Mostly montane regions of Costa Rica from 500 to 1600 m (Longino 1997).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.928° to 9.4817844°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality).

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.

  • sagittaria. Pheidole sagittaria Wilson, 2003: 502, figs. (s.w.) COSTA RICA.

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

Description

DIAGNOSIS Similar to Pheidole christopherseni, Pheidole exquisita, Pheidole nigricula, Pheidole nitella and Pheidole pygmaea, differing as follows.

Major: light brown; head strongly flattened dorsoventrally, so that in side view it is narrowly rectangular; in addition, the head and mandibles together in full-face view are heart-shaped or (adding flattening top to bottom) shaped like an arrowhead; propodeal spines reduced to denticles; apex of petiolar node pointed; carinulae cover most of anterior fourth of dorsal head surface, and almost all of the rest of the body smooth and shiny.

Minor: eye very large, oval, set far forward on head; propodeal spines reduced to denticles; almost all of head and body smooth and shiny.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.72, HL 0.76, SL 0.38, EL 0.10, PW 0.34. Paratype minor: HW 0.34, HL 0.36, SL 0.32, EL 0.06, PW 0.22.

COLOR Major: body light brown, appendages yellowish brown.

Minor: body yellowish brown, appendages dark yellow.


Pheidole sagittaria Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

COSTA RICA: Rio Toro Amarillo, near Guápiles, Limón, col. W. L. Brown. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

L sagittaria, pertaining to arrows, referring to the head shape of the major.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
  • 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.
  • Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
  • Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
  • 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.