Pheidole dossena

Occurs on the floor of lowland forest, nesting in rotting wood. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
I have seen material from numerous localities in lowland southern Mexico (Palenque, Chiapas), Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. (Wilson 2003)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama.

Worker
Minor

Nomenclature

 *  dossena. Pheidole dossena Wilson, 2003: 287, figs. (s.w.) COSTA RICA.

Description
A member of the fallax group, similar to Pheidole bergi in some traits, but easily distinguished from it and other group members as follows.

Major: brownish yellow with a conspicuous circular brown spot in center of vertex, and yellow appendages. Propodeal spines thin, one-third as long as the basal propodeal face and vertical to it; petiolar node very high, tapering in side view at the apex to form a blunt point; postpetiole from above elliptical, with subangulate lateral margins; rugoreticulum extending on each side of head from eye to antennal fossa; carinulae along midline reach from vertex to occiput, and flanked on occiput by short, feeble carinulae, with rest of posterior half of dorsal head surface smooth.

Minor: propodeal spines long and thin; occiput narrowed, with nuchal collar; carinulae cross border between mesopleuron and side of propodeum.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.14, HL 1.22, SL 0.64, EL 0.14, PW 0.56. Paratype minor: HW 0.52, HL 0.64, SL 0.68, EL 0.12, PW 0.34.

COLOR Major: body and mandibles light brownish yellow, verging to light brown in a circular spot in center of vertex; appendages clear yellow.

Minor: body brownish yellow, tending to clear yellow on mesosoma and waist, with a brownish tinge on head and gaster; appendages clear yellow.



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

Type Material
COSTA RICA: La Selva Biological Station, near Puerto Viejo, Heredia, col. Stefan Cover.

Etymology
L dossena, clown, jester, referring to the odd head coloration.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Ahuatzin D. A., E. J. Corro, A. Aguirre Jaimes, J. E. Valenzuela Gonzalez, R. Machado Feitosa, M. Cezar Ribeiro, J. Carlos Lopez Acosta, R. Coates, W. Dattilo. 2019. Forest cover drives leaf litter ant diversity in primary rainforest remnants within human-modified tropical landscapes. Biodiversity and Conservation 28(5): 1091-1107.
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. T., and R. K. Colwell. 2011. Density compensation, species composition, and richness of ants on a neotropical elevational gradient. Ecosphere 2(3): 16pp.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Ottonetti L., L. Tucci, F. Frizzi, G. Chelazzi, and G. Santini. 2010. Changes in ground-foraging ant assemblages along a disturbance gradient in a tropical agricultural landscape. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 22: 7386.
 * Smith M. A., W. Hallwachs, D. H. Janzen. 2014. Diversity and phylogenetic community structure of ants along a Costa Rican elevational gradient. Ecography 37(8): 720-731.