Pheidole tetra

In the Ouachita Mts. of Arkansas, Stefan Cover (unpublished field notes) found colonies at three localities in open areas of mixed pine-hardwood forest, nesting beneath rocks. At the Pedernales Falls State Park, Blanco Co., Texas, he found two colonies under rocks in grassy clearings, nesting in sandy soil; and in Cochise Co., Arizona, Cover discovered a colony in cottonwood floodplain forest, apparently nesting in open soil. In western Texas, Moody and Francke (1982) found tetra at 400–1600 m, nesting variously under stones and logs and in open soil. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Known from St. Louis Co., Missouri; Ouachita Mts., Montgomery Co., Arkansas; central and western Texas; and the mountains of southern Arizona at 1280–1580 m. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Mexico.

Nomenclature

 *  tetra. Pheidole crassicornis subsp. tetra Creighton, 1950a: 176 (s.w.) U.S.A. [First available use of Pheidole crassicornis subsp. porcula var. tetra Wheeler, W.M. 1908e: 467; unavailable name.] Raised to species: Wilson, 2003: 161.

Description
From Wilson (2003): Very close to Pheidole crassicornis, from which it differs in the major by its generally abundant pilosity, and Pheidole diversipilosa, from which it differs in the longer pilosity on the first gastral tergite and abundant hairs on the waist and occiput. Also resembles Pheidole porcula in various traits as depicted.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.34, HL 1.36, SL 0.72, EL 0.20, PW 0.66. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.74, SL 0.74, EL 0.14, PW 0.44.

COLOR Major and minor: concolorous light to dark reddish brown.



'''Figure. Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
- as reported in Wilson (2003)

Type Locality Information
From Wilson (2003): TEXAS: Austin, col. W. M. Wheeler.

Etymology
Gr tetra, four, significance unknown. (Wilson 2003)

Additional References
Creighton, W. S. 1950a. The ants of North America. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 104: 1–585.

Moody, J. V., Francke, O. F. 1982. The ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of western Texas, Part 1: Subfamily Myrmicinae. Grad. Stud. Tex. Tech Univ. 27: 1–80.

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