Pheidole umphreyi

The type colony was found by Gary J. Umphrey in a coffee plantation, nesting under the bark and in the still-firm rotting wood of a very large log. Winged queens were present at the time of collection 15 June. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
Known from Costa Rica and Panama

This taxon was described from Panama.

Description
DIAGNOSIS Similar in various traits to Pheidole chalcoides, Pheidole mackayi, Pheidole tennantae, and several species close to them (q.v.), differing as follows. Major: dark brown with bicolored head (see color below); upper mesopleuron (anepisterum), dorsum of propodeum, and humerus covered by irregular, broken rugulae; lower mesopleuron (katepisterum), sides of propodeum, and most of anterior dorsal surface of head carinulate; middle of promesonotal dorsum in profile with a small, obliquely subangulate convexity; petiolar node in side view tapered toward apex; postpetiolar node from above oval.

Minor: mesopleuron and side of propodeum rugulose; most of head and all of pronotum smooth and shiny; occiput broad, its margin straight.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.08, HL 1.08, SL 0.62, EL 0.12, PW 0.52. Paratype minor: HW 0.56, HL 0.62, SL 0.56, EL 0.06, PW 0.36.

COLOR Major: body dark brown; head bicolored: strip of head capsule anterior to anterior margin of eyes brownish yellow, rest of capsule dark brown; appendages medium brown.

Minor: body blackish brown; head bicolored: narrow strip of the anterior half of head capsule between eye and anterior head capsule border a contrasting brownish yellow.



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

Type Locality Information
PANAMA: Boquete, near Vulcan Baru, Chiriqui Province, 8°47'N 82°26'W, col. Gary J. Umphrey.

Etymology
Named after the collector, field biologist and systematist Gary J. Umphrey.