Pheidole citrina

Collected from leaf litter in wet forest. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Atlantic lowlands of Costa Rica (Longino 1997).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua.

Worker
Minor

Images from AntWeb
Major

Nomenclature

 *  citrina. Pheidole citrina Wilson, 2003: 401, figs. (s.w.) COSTA RICA.

Description
DIAGNOSIS A very small, yellow member of the flavens group whose major is marked by its strongly curved propodeal spine (as though the tip had “melted” backward); long scapes, which reach the occipital corners; all of the sculpturing on the anterior half of the head consisting of longitudinal carinulae, with the posterior half smooth and shiny; and pronotal humerus in dorsal-oblique view rounded. Similar to onyx, but in the major, citrina has a more curved propodeal spine, far less carinulation on the dorsal head surface, and longer scapes, among other differences.

See also the less similar Pheidole grex and Pheidole humida.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.66, HL 0.70, SL 0.54, EL 0.06, PW 0.38. Paratype minor: HW 0.46, HL 0.50, SL 0.54, EL 0.10, PW 0.28.

COLOR Major and minor: concolorous yellow.



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

Type Material
COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo, col. M. Byrne.

Etymology
L citrina, of citron, referring to yellow body color.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/