Pheidole zeteki

A colony found on the Blanchiseusse Road in Trinidad was in montane rainforest, nesting in a very decayed log (Stefan Cover, collection notes).

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Known from single collections on Barro Colorado, Panama; Morne Bleu, Northern Range and the Blanchiseusse Road, Trinidad; Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador; and Cuzco Amazónico, near Maldonado, Peru. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago.

Nomenclature

 *  zeteki. Pheidole (Decapheidole) zeteki Smith, M.R. 1947h: 194 (w.) PANAMA. See also: Wilson, 2003: 554.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS A member of the perpusilla group (very small, with 10-segmented antennae), close to Pheidole perpusilla. Distinguished as follows.

Major: anterior half of dorsum of head mostly covered by longitudinal carinulae, and posterior half foveolate and opaque; propodeal spines long and backward-directed; dorsum of postpetiolar node and anterior half of central strip of first gastral tergite foveolate and opaque.

Minor: all of head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Major (Trinidad): HW 0.66, HL 0.66, SL 0.34, EL 0.08, PW 0.34. Minor (Trinidad): HW 0.32, HL 0.36, SL 0.30, EL 0.06, PW 0.24.

COLOR Major: concolorous medium yellow.

Minor: concolorous light reddish yellow.



'''Figure. Upper: major. Lower: minor. TRINIDAD: Blanchiseusse Road, 10 km marker. Scale bars = 1 mm.'''

Type Material
and  - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Etymology
Named after James Zetek, early biologist of the Barro Colorado field station. (Wilson 2003)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Alonso L., M. Kaspari, and A. Alonso. 2001. Assessment of the Ants of the Lower Urubamba Region, Peru. Pp 87-93. In: Alsonso A, Dallmeier F, Campbell P, editors. Urubamba: The biodiversity of a Peruvian rainforest. SI/MAB Biodiversity Program-Smithsonian Institution. 204 p.
 * Donoso D. A. 2014. Assembly mechanisms shaping tropical litter ant communities. Ecography 37 doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00253.x
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
 * Houadria M., A. Salas-Lopez, J. Orivel, N. Bluthgen, and F. Menzel. 2015. Dietary and temporal niche differentiati on in tropical ants—can they explain local ant coexistence? Biotropica 47(2): 208-217.
 * Kaspari M., D. Donoso, J. A. Lucas, T. Zumbusch, and A. D. Kay. 2012. Using nutritional ecology to predict community structure: a field test in Neotropical ants. Ecosphere 3(11): art.93.
 * Smith M. R. 1947. Notes on Pheidole (Decapheidole) and the description of a new species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 18: 193-196.