Pheidole crassicornis

From Wilson (2003): "In northern Florida, Naves (1985) found the species sympatric with Pheidole diversipilosa, nesting in deep soil in forest clearings. The inconspicuous nest openings were never surrounded by craters of excavated soil of the kind common in other soil-dwelling species of Pheidole, and the vertical galleries ran at least 60 cm deep. Minors and occasionally majors foraged 4 meters or more from the nest entrances, and minors were observed retrieving live termites and small dead arthropods. In western Texas, Moody and Francke (1982) found colonies at 100–1700 m, nesting under stones and in open soil."

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
North Carolina to northern Florida and west to western Texas. (Wilson 2003)

This taxon was described from the United States.

Description
From Wilson (2003): A member of the crassicornis group distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: thickened basal portion of scape strongly curved toward the insertion, as illustrated; pilosity very sparse, usually almost absent from the head and gaster; humerus subangulate in dorsal-oblique view; pronotal dorsum marginally carinulate.

Minor: all of dorsal surface of head except middle of clypeus and frontal triangle, as well as all of mesosoma and waist, foveolate and opaque.

See also Pheidole diversipilosa, Pheidole porcula, Pheidole tetra and Pheidole vallicola.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Major (Belmont, North Carolina): HW 1.30, HL 1.30, SL 0.78, EL 0.20, PW 0.64. Minor (Belmont, North Carolina): HW 0.62, HL 0.74, SL 0.84, EL 0.10, PW 0.44.

COLOR Major: concolorous brownish yellow.

Minor: concolorous yellowish brown.



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

Type Material
and presumably (see type locality information) - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Type Locality Information
From Wilson (2003): NORTH CAROLINA: Belmont, Gaston Co., near Charlotte. (Labeled to species by Carlos Emery and likely part of his type series; the type locality is Charlotte.)

Etymology
L crassicornis, thick horn, referring to the expanded basal part of the antennal scape. (Wilson 2003)

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

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.

Naves, M. A. 1985. A monograph of the genus Pheidole in Florida, USA (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insecta Mundi 1: 53–90.

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