Pheidole floridana

At Bald Point, Franklin Co., Florida, I found colonies nesting at a roadside in open sandy soil; and in Mobile, Alabama (in 1942) what was probably this species nesting beneath a whiskey bottle in a vacant lot. Winged reproductives have been found in nests during September and October. Stefan Cover (personal communication) reports that floridana “occurs in a variety of woodland habitats, nests in soil, litter, and rotten wood, and in both xeric and mesic situations. Colonies are monogynous, may contain 1000 or more ants, and are sometimes polydomous. The species is omnivorous, but does not appear to harvest seeds.” (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
P. floridana has been recorded by Stefan Cover (personal communication) from the coastal plain of North Carolina south to the Florida Keys and west to central Texas (Austin and surrounding area), thence south into Mexico. (Wilson 2003)

This taxon was described from the United States.

Nomenclature

 *  floridana. Pheidole flavens subsp. floridana Emery, 1895c: 293 (s.w.q.) U.S.A. Raised to species: Pergande, 1896: 883; Emery, 1896g: 77. Senior synonym of lauta: Gregg, 1959: 21. See also: Wilson, 2003: 424.
 * lauta. Pheidole lauta Wheeler, W.M. 1908e: 470 (s.w.q.m.) U.S.A. Subspecies of floridana: Creighton, 1950a: 179. Junior synonym of floridana: Gregg, 1959: 21.

Description
From Wilson (2003): Nearly identical with Pheidole bilimeki and its Neotropical variants, distinguished as follows.

Major: foveolation on dorsum of head very fine; first gastral tergite smooth and shiny; humerus less prominent in dorsal-oblique view.

Minor: antennal scapes relatively short, just reaching or barely surpassing the occipital corner; first gastral tergite smooth and shiny, with at most a light shagreening at the base of the tergite.

Both castes are consistently yellow. P. floridana is very close to Pheidole bilimeki, and also to Pheidole stomachosa of Jamaica, which coexists on the island with bilimeki. P. stomachosa is distinguished from both bilimeki and floridana by the minor’s head and pronotum being smooth and shiny (q.v.).

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.92, HL 1.00, SL 0.44, EL 0.10, PW 0.46. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.44, HL 0.52, SL 0.42, EL 0.06, PW 0.30.

COLOR Major and minor: concolorous yellow.

'''Figure. Upper: lectotype, major (damaged specimen; pilosity added from a fresh specimen); the upper dorsal-oblique profile of mesosoma is the lectotype, and the lower profile is a major from Sarasota, Florida. Lower: paralectotype, minor (damaged specimen; pilosity added from a fresh specimen). Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
and - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology
Named after the state of origin. (Wilson 2003)

Additional References
Emery, C. 1895d. Beiträge zur Kenntniss der nordamerikanischen Ameisenfauna. (Schluss). Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. Geogr. Biol. Tiere 8: 257–360.

Text and images from this publication used by permission of the author.