Key to Pheidole flavens group

Key to Pheidole flavens group

This worker key is based on:

These species, the great majority of which are instantly recognizable by their small size, vestigial or absent mesonotal convexity, and short, 12-segmented antennae, compose the most speciose and numerically abundant group of the New World Pheidole. Found variously from North Carolina to Argentina, the species collectively are also, with the fallax group, the most widely distributed of the Pheidole groups. One species, Pheidole darlingtoni, is known only from the minor worker and is not included in the key that follows. An apparent endemic of Haiti, it is readily distinguished by its rugoreticulate clypeus and strikingly bicolorous head (whitish yellow and light brown).

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 * Pheidole
 * "New World Pheidole" Wilson 2003

1

 * Major: seen in full-face view, rugoreticulum present on occiput, or at least the occipital lobes, or in bands or patches directly in front of the occipital lobes, or elsewhere on the posterior fifth of the dorsal surface of the head . . . . . 2


 * Major: seen in full-face view, no rugoreticulum present on or near the occiput or anywhere on the posterior fifth of the dorsal surface of the head . . . . . 30

2
return to couplet #1
 * Major: in full-face view, entire occiput, including the occipital lobes and the dorsal surface of the head between them, is covered by rugoreticulum . . . . . 3


 * Major: in full-face view, at least a posteriormost strip of the occiput, or at least a narrow space along the occiput at the midline, or both, is free of rugoreticulum . . . . . 18

3
return to couplet #2
 * Major: in full-face view, all of the head behind the level of the posterior margin of the eyes rugoreticulate . . . . . 4


 * Major: in full-face view, a substantial space posterior to the eyes or to the frontal lobes, or to both, carinulate but not rugoreticulate . . . . . 5

4
return to couplet #3
 * Major: in side view, space immediately laterad to eye is rugoreticulate. Minor: posterior half of head rugoreticulate (Costa Rica, Honduras) . . . . . Pheidole verricula


 * Major: in side view, space immediately laterad to eye is carinulate, not rugoreticulate. Minor: posterior half of head foveolate, not rugoreticulate (Argentina, Uruguay) . . . . . Pheidole obtusopilosa