Temnothorax nevadensis

Mackay (2000) "This species nests in soil (Wheeler, 1903a; Wheeler and Wheeler, 1973a, 1986) in moist areas (Cole, 1934), usually under stones (Wheeler, 1903a; Cole, 1942; Wheeler and Wheeler, 1986), or in rotten wood. It may be involved in plesiobiosis, as Wheeler (l903a) reported it nesting at the entrance of a Trachymyrmex turrifex nest and at the edge of a flourishing colony of Pheidole tepicana (= P. instabilis). Insecticide treatments for the spruce budworm in eastern Oregon had little impact on this species (Murphy and Croft. 1990)."



Identification
Modified from Mackay (2000) ''This species is fairly common throughout the western United States. The clypeus has a moderately well defined medial carina and 2 well-defined lateral carina, which curve and cross the anterior part of the medial lobe of the clypeus. It has a completely and strongly striated head with punctures between the striae, and with rarely a slender median strip without sculpture. The sides of the pronotum are distinctly and coarsely rugose, with the background weakly punctate, but shining. The dorsum of the mesonotum is striate to finely rugose, but mixed with background punctures and not as shiny as the background of the sides of the pronotum. The petiole and postpetiole are primarily punctate, but fine rugulae can be seen on the dorsum of the petiole. There is usually a single ruga on the side of the petiole. Some larger specimens have several poorly defined rugae on the side of the petiole (making it look "wrinkled"), and occasionally on the anterior face. These larger specimens usually have longer propodeal spines, sometimes as long as the distance between the bases. These specimens were referred to as L. nevadensis subsp. melanderi in the past.

Leptothorax nevadensis and L. neomexicanus'' have similar lateral clypeal carinae, which usually curve and connect on the anterior part of the medial lobe of the clypeus. They are thus apparently closely related. They can be easily separated as the dorsum of the head of L. nevadensis is nearly completely sculptured, whereas part of the head of L. neomexicanus is smooth and shining.

Range
USA. Western states including Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.

Habitat
Wheeler and Wheeler (1986) "Known from cool desert, pinyon-juniper forest (Cole, 1966), coniferous forest (Wheeler and Wheeler, 1973a) and alpine areas."

Mackay (2000) "D. S. Chandler (pers. comm.) collected this species in litter in a number of plant communities, including tanbark oak, oak leaf litter near a spring, maple and oak litter, Douglas fir, and laurel.

Abundance
Commmon.

Original Combination
Leptothorax nevadensis Wheeler, W.M. 1903c: 252, pl. 12, fig. 20 (w.q.m.) U.S.A. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1973b: 71 (l.). Combination in L. (Myrafant): Smith, D.R. 1979: 1393; in Temnothorax: Bolton, 2003: 271. Senior synonym of eldoradensis, melanderi: MacKay, 2000: 376; of lindae, maryanae: Ward, 2005: 16

Type Material
As reported in Mackay (2000) "Type series: AMNH.MCZC [seen]."