Pheidole ademonia

Two series were collected at the type locality in terra firme forest. One was a small group of ants found beneath the bark of a rotten log, the other several strays in soil (Stefan Cover, unpublished notes).

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Known from the type locality in Peru and from several series collected at the Yasuni National Park, Ecuador. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Ecuador, Guyana, Peru.

Nomenclature

 *  ademonia. Pheidole ademonia Wilson, 2003: 365, figs. (s.w.) PERU.

Description
A small yellow member of the flavens group, similar to Pheidole infernalis, Pheidole peltastes, Pheidole sospes and Pheidole termitobia, distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: Antennal scrobe present, its surface weakly foveolate; occiput rugoreticulate, with remainder of dorsal head surface longitudinally carinulate; carinulae near the cephalic midline curving inward; promesonotal dorsal profile forms a single high, semicircular curve.

Minor: Almost identical to that of Pheidole sospes (see illustration of that species).

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.74, HL 0.80, SL 0.36, EL 0.06, PW 0.34. Paratype minor: HW 0.38, HL 0.40, SL 0.34, EL 0.06, PW 0.24.

COLOR Major: Concolorous medium reddish yellow.

Minor: Concolorous plain medium yellow.



'''Figure. Holotype Major. Scale Bar = 1mm. '''

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

Etymology
Gr ademonia, troubled, distressed.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * LaPolla, J.S. and S.P. Cover. 2005. New species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Guyana, with a list of species known from the country. Tranactions of the American Entomological Society 131(3-4):365-374
 * 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