Pheidole absurda

Near Campeche I found a nest in moist clay of a thorn forest. Soil nests are also reported by Longino (1997) in Costa Rica and by Creighton (1966) in Texas. According to Creighton, the nest entrance is an inconspicuous hole 2- 5 mm in diameter, leading to a diffuse system of galleries and chambers that descend as much as a meter into the ground. A mature colony contains at least 75 majors and 300 minors. The colonies harvest seeds (Amaranthus palmeri at Creighton's study site) and store them in granary chambers. The minors strip the ovary shards away from the seeds, and the majors crack them open. The majors also serve as very effective guards, using their mandibles like wire clippers to chop off appendages of arthropod intruders. In observation nests they proved more than a match for other Pheidole and the native fire ant Solenopsis geminata. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
The Brownsville area of extreme southern Texas south to Costa Rica. I have seen material from the Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala. Kempf (1972b) reports absurda from the "Guianas," but this needs verification. (Wilson 2003)

This taxon was described from Guatemala. It is also found in the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

Nomenclature

 *  absurda. Pheidole absurda Forel, 1886b: xlvii (s.) GUATEMALA. Emery, 1890b: 48 (w.). Senior synonym of ridicula: Wilson, 2003: 646. See also: Emery, 1894k: 54.
 * ridicula. Pheidole ridicula Wheeler, W.M. 1916f: 29, fig. 1 (s.) U.S.A. Junior synonym of absurda: Wilson, 2003: 646. See also: Creighton, 1966b: 1.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS A large member of the tristis group distinguished by the disproportionately large, elongate head of the major. The major is also characterized by a nearly complete lack of sculpturing on the head and body other than carinulae found on the dorsal surface of the head from the level of the eyes forward; very low meso somal convexity; propodeal spines small and erect. Minor: occiput broad, lacking nuchal collar; body almost completely smooth, lacking any sculpturing except for carinulae on the dorsal head surface at the level of the eye and anterior to it.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.80, HL 2.38, SL 0.82, EL 0.24, PW 0.84. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.64, HL 0.68, SL 0.64, EL 0.14, PW 0.42.

COLOR Major: head reddish yellow, mandibles medium reddish brown, rest of body and appendages yellowish brown.

Minor: body light brown, appendages brownish yellow.



'''Figure. Upper: major. The body is drawn from a specimen from 10 km east of Campeche, Mexico, col. E. O. Wilson, compared with the lectotype major in ; the head is drawn from the lectotype major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
- as reported in Wilson (2003)

Type Locality Information
GUATEMALA: Retalhuleu.

Etymology
L absurda, foolish, silly, referring to the very large, elongate head of the major. (Wilson 2003)

Additional References
[[Media:Creighton 1966b.pdf|Creighton, W. S. 1966. The habits of Pheidole ridicula Wheeler with remarks on habit patterns in the genus Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 73:1-7. [1966-08-31] PDF]]

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

Kempf, W. W. 1972b. Catálogo abreviado das formigas da região Neotropical. Stud. Entomol. 15: 3–344.

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