Pheidole sospes

At Cuzco Amazónico, Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin collected four colonies, all in terra firme forest, nesting in small rotten sticks on the forest floor. (Wilson 2003) Similarly, Fernandes et al. (2018) found it commonly nesting in twigs within leaf litter.

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
São Paulo, Brazil; Misiones (El Dorado) in extreme northeastern Argentina; and Cuzco Amazónico, near Maldonado, Madre de Dios, Peru. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.

Worker
Minor

Nomenclature

 *  sospes. Pheidole anastasii var. sospes Forel, 1908c: 381 (s.w.) BRAZIL. Subspecies of anastasii: Santschi, 1929d: 291. Raised to species and senior synonym of minutissima: Wilson, 2003: 509.
 * minutissima. Pheidole minutissima Kusnezov, 1952b: 78 (s.w.) ARGENTINA. Junior synonym of sospes: Wilson, 2003: 509.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS A medium-sized, yellow member of the flavens group; the major has shallow but well-developed antennal scrobes; rugoreticulation across all of the occiput; a small mesonotal convexity, and angulate lateral postpetiolar margins, as well as posteriorly directed propodeal spine and rugoreticulate humerus. Resembles ademonia and peltastes, but easily distinguished by many features of sculpturing, development of the scrobe, and presence in the major of the mesonotal convexity, as illustrated.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Lectotype major: HW 0.84, HL 0.92, SL 0.44, EL 0.12, PW 0.44. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.44, HL 0.46, SL 0.42, EL 0.08, PW 0.30.

COLOR Major: appendages and gaster clear yellow, rest of body a slightly contrasting reddish yellow (“orange”).

Minor: concolorous clear yellow.



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

Type Material
BRAZIL: São Paulo. - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology
L sospes, saving, delivering, significance unknown. (Wilson 2003)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Cuezzo, F. 1998. Formicidae. Chapter 42 in Morrone J.J., and S. Coscaron (dirs) Biodiversidad de artropodos argentinos: una perspectiva biotaxonomica Ediciones Sur, La Plata. Pages 452-462.
 * Fernandes T. T., R. R. Silva, D. Rodrigues de Souza-Campana, O. Guilherme Morais da Silva, and M. Santina de Castro Morini. 2019. Winged ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) presence in twigs on the leaf litter of Atlantic Forest. Biota Neotropica 19(3): http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2018-0694
 * Fernandes T. T., W. Dattilo, R. R. Silva, P. Luna, C. M. Oliveira, and M. Santina de Castro Morini. 2019. Ant occupation of twigs in the leaf litter of the Atlantic Forest: influence of the environment and external twig structure. Tropical Conservation Science 12: 1-9.
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Fleck M. D., E. Bisognin Cantarelli, and F. Granzotto. 2015. Register of new species of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Rio Grande do Sul state. Ciencia Florestal, Santa Maria 25(2): 491-499.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Kusnezov N. 1952. El género Pheidole en la Argentina (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Acta Zoologica Lilloana 12: 5-88.
 * Kusnezov N. 1978. Hormigas argentinas: clave para su identificación. Miscelánea. Instituto Miguel Lillo 61:1-147 + 28 pl.
 * 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
 * Lapolla, J. S., and S. P. Cover. "New species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) from Guyana, with a list of species known from the country." Transactions of the American Entomological Society 131, no. 3-4 (2005): 365-374.
 * Luederwaldt H. 1918. Notas myrmecologicas. Rev. Mus. Paul. 10: 29-64.
 * Suguituru S. S., M. Santina de Castro Morini, R. M. Feitosa, and R. Rosa da Silva. 2015. Formigas do Alto Tiete. Canal 6 Editora 458 pages
 * Vittar, F. 2008. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la Mesopotamia Argentina. INSUGEO Miscelania 17(2):447-466
 * Vittar, F., and F. Cuezzo. "Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de la provincia de Santa Fe, Argentina." Revista de la Sociedad Entomológica Argentina (versión On-line ISSN 1851-7471) 67, no. 1-2 (2008).