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Pheidole violacea
| Pheidole violacea | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Pheidole |
| Species: | P. violacea |
| Binomial name | |
| Pheidole violacea Wilson, 2003
| |
Longino (1997): known only from the Peñas Blancas Valley, where it nests in globular ant gardens in wet forest clearings. E.g.: “carton/soil fiorii-like nest on low vegetation. Polydomous, with one nest enveloping stems of shrub, second nest less than 1 m away on underside of Xanthosoma leaf. First nest was covered with small dicot seedlings, all at the cotyledon stage. . . A well developed ant garden in front of house, with large epiphytes. Nest about half the size of a soccer ball, discrete and irregularly spherical, on stem of Urera . . . I later saw more of these ant gardens, with the same Pheidole and the same epiphytes.” Winged queens were present in one nest 21 June 1991.
| At a Glance | • Ant garden |
Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Upper elevation of the Cordillera de Tilaran, on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica (Longino 1997).
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 10.33333° to 10.33333°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (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. |
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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
  
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| Worker. Specimen code casent0635545. Photographer J. Longino, 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.
- violacea. Pheidole violacea Wilson, 2003: 248, 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
Major: medium brown body with bicolorous head; carinulae originating from the posterior sections of the frontal lobes curve laterally to end near the eyes; pilosity overall dense and very long; pronotal humerus cornulate in dorsal-oblique view.
Minor: body and head light brown with unusual local bluish reflections in certain lights. Similar to boruca of Costa Rica but that species is darker colored, lacking bluish or violaceous reflections in the minor; and the major has a foveate occiput, more extensive outward curving carinulae on the head, and rounded pronotal humeri in dorsal-oblique view.
See also the less similar Pheidole aculifera (in the fallax group), Pheidole prostrata and Pheidole variegata (= Pheidole pubiventris).
MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.30, HL 1.36, SL 1.10, EL 1.02, PW 0.64. Paratype minor: HW 0.64, HL 0.80, SL 1.02, EL 0.20, PW 0.44.
COLOR Major: body and head concolorous medium brown, except for genae anterior to the eyes, which are yellowish brown; appendages light brown, tarsi yellow.
Minor: body and appendages concolorous light brown except tarsi, which are yellow; bluish to violaceous reflections occur over most of the body in certain angles of light, in small patches at a time.
Figure. Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.
Type Material
COSTA RICA: Rio Peñas Blancas, Alajuela, 950 m, col. J. Longino. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad
Etymology
L violacea, violet-colored, referring to the bluish to violaceous reflections of the minor body.
References
- Orivel, J., Leroy, C. 2011. The diversity and ecology of ant gardens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae; Spermatophyta: Angiospermae). Myrmecological News 14: 73-85.
- Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. (page 248, fig. major, minor described)
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.