Pheidole tobini

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

The type colony was found in terra firme rainforest, nesting in an epiphyte mass on a large fallen tree. A second colony was discovered at the same locality and habitat, nesting beneath the bark of a fallen log at the edge of a tree gap. (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: -0.631944444° to -12.497473°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Ecuador, Peru (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.

  • tobini. Pheidole tobini Wilson, 2003: 356, figs. (s.w.) PERU.

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 fallax, Pheidole jelskii, Pheidole obscurithorax, Pheidole puttemansi, Pheidole roushae and Pheidole valens, and distinguished as follows.

Major: dark brown; head narrowed toward occiput in side view, and subrectangular in full-face view; occipital cleft deep; posterior fourth of head, including occiput, and frontal lobes longitudinally carinulate, contrasting with the mostly rugoreticulate anterior threefourths of the head; humerus in dorsal-oblique view subangulate; petiolar peduncle thin, and node in side view tapering almost to a point at the apex; anterior half of the first gastral tergite shagreened and opaque.

Minor: occiput constricted to a neck with a broad nuchal collar; petiolar peduncle slender.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.68, HL 1.80, SL 1.00, EL 0.22, PW 0.80. Paratype minor: HW 0.56, HL 0.82, SL 1.12, EL 0.14, PW 0.44.

COLOR Major: head dark reddish brown, body dark and in some places blackish brown.

Minor: head, mesosoma, and petiolar peduncle medium brown; gaster and rest of waist light brown; appendages light brown.


Pheidole tobini Wilson 2003.jpg

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

Type Material

PERU: Cuzco Amazónico, 15 km northeast of Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, col. Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin. Museum of Comparative Zoology

Etymology

Named after John E. Tobin, one of the collectors, and a student of the Amazon arboreal ant fauna.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Mertl A. L., J. F. A. Traniello, K. Ryder Wilkie, and R. Constantino. 2012. Associations of two ecologically significant social insect taxa in the litter of an amazonian rainforest: is there a relationship between ant and termite species richness? Psyche doi:10.1155/2012/312054