Pheidole stulta

From Wilson (2003): Colonies have been found in a tropical forest (Panama) and coffee plantation at 850 m (Colombia); a nest was found on Barro Colorado in a “well rotted log” (L. Hane, collection note).

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
As broadly construed, stulta ranges from Bahia in Brazil to Panama (Wilson 2003). It has also been collected in Costa Rica.

This taxon was described from Brazil.

Nomenclature

 *  stulta. Pheidole stulta Forel, 1886b: xlvi (s.) BRAZIL. Senior synonym of championi, sima: Wilson, 2003: 758.
 * championi. Pheidole championi Forel, 1899c: 72, pl. 3, fig. 22 (s.q.) PANAMA. Junior synonym of stulta: Wilson, 2003: 758.
 * sima. Pheidole championii var. sima Forel, 1912f: 234 (s.w.) COSTA RICA. Junior synonym of stulta: Wilson, 2003: 758.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS A large, yellow, sparsely sculptured member of the tristis group.

Major: very prominent, subangulate, pronotal humerus in dorsal-oblique view, no sculpturing behind the posterior half of the head or any part of the body; a cornulate postpetiolar node; and a small but conspicuous rounded subpostpetiolar process. The Colombia syntype major I examined has longitudinal carinulae extending midway up to the center of the dorsum of the head, as opposed to the complete absence of such carinulae in the Panama specimen figured. Further series may indicate that the Central American populations are a distinct species, in which case they would receive the name championi Forel.

Similar to Pheidole absurda, Pheidole alpinensis, Pheidole exarata, Pheidole excubitor, Pheidole germaini, Pheidole gibba, Pheidole grandinodus, Pheidole obrima, Pheidole rogeri, Pheidole spininodis, Pheidole tristis and Pheidole zoster, differing in details of body form, sculpturing, and pilosity, as illustrated, and color.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Syntype major (Colombia): HW 1.84, HL 2.26, SL 0.84, EL 0.18, PW 0.94. Minor (Barro Colorado Island, Panama): HW 0.60, HL 0.66, SL 0.66, EL 0.06, PW 0.38.

COLOR Major: light reddish yellow.

Minor: medium yellow.



'''Figure. Upper: major. Lower: minor. PANAMA: Barro Colorado Island, col. L. Hane (major compared with stulta syntype from Colombia; queens from the Barro Colorado and syntype series were also matched). Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
- as reported in Wilson (2003)

Type Locality Information
Caravelas, Bahia, Brazil. (Wilson 2003)

Etymology
L stulta, fool, allusion unknown. (Wilson 2003)

Additional References
Forel, A. 1886. Espèces nouvelles de fourmis américaines. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 30: xxxviii–xlix.

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