Pheidole meinerti

At Cuzco Amazonico, near Maldonado, Peru, Stefan Cover and John Tobin found meinerti in mature terra firme forest and forest transitional between terra firme and seasonally flooded forest. The species appears to be adapted to unstable nest sites on the ground. Two of the colonies were between dead leaves in the leaf litter, and one was in a rotten stick on the surface of the litter. Colonies were small, consisting of 100 workers or less, and a single queen. Cover (personal communication) notes that both majors and minors have long legs and antennae, move very rapidly, and are not aggressive when the nests are disturbed. In this respect they resemble Pheidole aripoensis, Pheidole cataractae and Pheidole demeter. Possibly these are traits that represent a guild of opportunistic, frequently emigrating ground nesters. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Known from single records each from Venezuela, Guyana, and Amazonian Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

 *  meinerti. Pheidole meinerti Forel, 1905b: 159 (s.) VENEZUELA. Senior synonym of mimula: Wilson, 2003: 616.
 * mimula. Pheidole mimula Wheeler, W.M. 1916c: 5 (s.) GUYANA. Junior synonym of meinerti: Wilson, 2003: 616.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS Major: pilosity of mesosomal dorsum sparse, comprising four or so pairs of short erect hairs; entire head, meso soma, waist foveolate and opaque; other sculpturing limited to longitudinal carinulae on anterior half of head; anterior fifth of median strip of first gastric tergite shagreened, and remainder of gaster smooth and shiny.

Minor: pilosity of dorsa of mesosoma and waist sparse, consisting of a small number of short, erect pairs of setae, some of which are clavate; some hairs on rear third of head also clavate; occiput narrow, with thin nuchal collar.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype ofmeinerti major: HW 0.78, HL 0.78, SL 0.56, EL 0.10, PW 0.36. Minor (Cuzco Amaz6nico, near Puerto Maldonado, Peru): HW 0.42, HL 0.48, SL 0.56, EL 0.08, PW 0.26.

COLOR Major and minor: concolorous yellow.



'''Figure. Upper: major (syntype of synonymous mimula); right hind femur depicted at bottom. Lower: minor (syntype of synonymous mimula). GUYANA: Tukeit. Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
La Moka, Venezuela, col. F. Meinert. - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology
Named after the collector F. Meinert.