Pheidole yeensis

Pheidole yeensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Pheidole
Species:	P. yeensis
Binomial name
Pheidole yeensis Forel, 1902 Specimen Labels

This species is more common in open lands, tillage and gardens than in woody habitats, and nests in the soil. In N. Vietnamese rural areas this species and Pheidole parva are the most dominant Pheidole species. Prominent wall built with soil usually surrounds the nest entrance. Workers actively forage on the ground, and prey and/or scavenge on small invertebrates including other ground-foraging ants, such as Odontoponera denticulata. (Eguchi 2008)

Photo Gallery

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  Pheidole yeensis minor and major worker. Photo by Yanming Liu.

Identification

Eguchi (2008) - This species is characterized among Indo-Chinese species by the combination of the following features: in the minor dorsum of head and mesosoma sparsely bearing relatively thick standing hairs; in the major head in lateral view strongly impressed on vertex; in the major hypostoma at most with inconspicuous median and submedian processes; in the major and minor promesonotal dome in lateral view with a low mound on its posterior slope; in the major first gastral tergite longitudinally rugoso-punctate entirely.

This species is similar to Pheidole planifrons Santschi among Indo-Chinese species (see under P. planifrons).

Keys including this Species

• Key to the Pheidole of North Vietnam

Distribution

Known from the Indo-Chinese subregion.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 22.88333333° to 21.68333333°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Laos, Myanmar (type locality), Thailand, Vietnam.
Palaearctic Region: China.

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.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0281657. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Lectotype of Pheidole yeensis. Worker (major/soldier). Specimen code casent0907965. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

• yeensis. Pheidole sulcaticeps r. yeensis Forel, 1902c: 179 (s.) MYANMAR. [Also described as new by Forel, 1902f: 544.] Bingham, 1903: 253 (w.). Subspecies of sulcaticeps: Emery, 1921f: 94. Raised to species: Bingham, 1903: 252; Wu & Wang, 1995: 102. See also: Eguchi, 2008: 107.

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

Description

Worker

Eguchi (2008) - Major (n=5). — HL 2.01–2.09 mm; HW 1.77–1.83 mm; CI 85–89; SL 0.94–0.99 mm; SI 53–55; FL 1.55–1.61 mm; FI 87–88. Minor (n=5). — HL 0.73–0.93 mm; HW 0.58–0.77 mm; CI 79–83; SL 0.86–0.97 mm; SI 126–149; FL 0.97–1.23 mm; FI 160–170.

Major — Head in lateral view strongly impressed on vertex; frons rugose longitudinally, with interspaces weakly punctured; vertex and dorsal and dorsolaeral faces of vertexal lobe reticulate or rugoso-reticulate, with enclosures weakly punctured; frontal carina well developed, partly overhanging antennal scrobe; median longitudinal carina of clypeus absent, inconspicuous or weak; hypostoma without conspicuous median and submedian processes, but with conspicuous lateral processes; outer surface of mandible smooth excluding its basal area, bearing short appressed hairs; antenna with a 3-segmented club; maximal diameter of eye longer than antennal segment X. Promesonotal dome in dorsal view transversely rugoso-reticulate, with enclosures weakly punctured, in lateral view with a low or inconspicuous mound on its posterior slope; humerus very weakly produced laterad; the dome at the humeri a little narrower than or almost as broad as at the bottom. Petiole (a little) longer than postpetiole (excluding helcium); petiolar node in rear view weakly concave mediodorsally; postpetiole not massive. First gastral tergite longitudinally rugoso-punctate entirely.

Minor — Dorsum of head and mesosoma sparsely bearing relatively thick standing hairs; frons and vertex smooth or shagreened; dorsolateral part of head often rugoso-punctate weakly; preoccipital carina conspicuous dorsally and laterally; median part of clypeus largely smooth; median longitudinal carina of clypeus absent, or present but weak; antenna with a 3-segmented club; scape extending far beyond posterolateral margin of head; maximal diameter of eye almost as long as or shorter than antennal segment X. Promesonotal dome smooth entirely, or almost smooth dorsally and weakly rugoso-punctate dorsolaterally (and laterally); the dome in lateral view with a low mound on its posterior slope; humerus of the dome in dorso-oblique view not produced; mesopleuron, metapleuron and lateral face of propodeum well punctured. Petiole (a little) longer than postpetiole (excluding helcium); postpetiole relatively large but not massive.

Type Material

Eguchi (2008) - Syntype: 1 major, “Birmah (Bingham) Ye Valley CCI 14” [Myanmar], Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève, examined, designated as the lectotype.

References

• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. (page 252, raised to species)
• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. (page 253, worker described)
• Eguchi, K. 2008. A revision of Northern Vietnamese species of the ant genus Pheidole (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Zootaxa 1902:1-118.
• Emery, C. 1921c. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [part]. Genera Insectorum 174A:1-94 94: 1-94 + 7 (page 94, subspecies of sulcaticeps)
• Forel, A. 1902c. Myrmicinae nouveaux de l'Inde et de Ceylan. Rev. Suisse Zool. 10: 165-249 (page 179, soldier described)
• Forel, A. 1902g. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part IX. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 14: 520-546 (page 544, also described as new)
• Khachonpisitsak, S., Yamane, S., Sriwichai, P., Jaitrong, W. 2020. An updated checklist of the ants of Thailand (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 998, 1–182 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.998.54902).
• Lu, Y-F.; Zhou, S.-Y. 2005. Karyotype analysis of four species in Formicidae. Guangxi Shifan Daxue Xuebao Ziran Kexue Ban 23: 81-84 (page 81-84, Karyotype described)
• Wu, J., Wang, C. 1995. The ants of China. Beijing: China Forestry Publishing House, x + 214 pp. (page 102, Raised to species)
• Zhong, Y. 2021. Taxonomy of the ant genus Pheidole Westwood (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Fujian, China with description of a new species. Entomotaxonomia 43(4): 1-5 (doi:10.11680/entomotax.2021035).

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