Pheidole antillana

The following field notes by H. H. Smith (in Forel 1893) on St. Vincent match those made by Stefan Cover and me on Grenada in June 1995: "A common species in forest and shady places. The colonies are generally composed of one or two hundred individuals at most, but may have as many as six or seven hundred. The formicarium is generally under bark of very rotten logs, or under a log or stick; rarely under a stone or under turf on a rock. It is an irregular chamber, with short radiating passages, the whole commonly occupying only two or three inches of space. The workers major are few in number, sometimes only one or two in the colony. Both workers major and minor are sluggish, especially the former." Smith found seeds in at least one of the nests. Sexual forms were found by him in the nests in October and November, and by Charles T. Brues on Grenada in September. (Wilson 2003)

Identification
See the description in the nomenclature section.

Distribution
St. Vincent, Grenada, and Dominica. Stefan Cover and I failed to find antillana on Barbados, in spite of careful searching in forested habitats there. (Wilson 2003)

This taxon was described from Antilles.

Description
From Wilson (2003): DIAGNOSIS Similar to Pheidole avia, Pheidole bucculenta, Pheidole guilelmimuelleri, Pheidole hetschkoi, Pheidole heyeri, Pheidole hortonae, Pheidole praeses, Pheidole rhytifera and Pheidole sarcina of South America, as well as Pheidole mamore of the scrobifera group, but differing in the following combination of traits.

Major: antennal scrobe absent; strong medium-length propodeal spines present; carinulae originating on the frontal lobes mostly approach or reach the occiput; intercarinular spaces of cephalic dorsum smooth and shiny; humerus rugoreticulate.

Minor: occiput narrow but lacking a nuchal collar; humerus denticulate in dorsal-oblique view; carinulae on head confined to area mesad and anterior to the eyes and several broken lines on the occiput; carinulae on pronotum sparse and limited to anterior margin.

Color varies from yellow to dark brown, as part of geographic variation among different island populations.

MEASUREMENTS (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.56, HL l.72, SL 0.74, EL 0.16, PW 0.80. Paratype minor: HW 0.66, HL 0.72, SL 0.76, EL 0.10, PW 0.66.

COLOR The material I have examined varies according to the island of origin: reddish yellow on St. Vincent (types); light reddish brown to dark brown on Grenada; and light reddish brown on Dominica.



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

Type Material
and - as reported in Wilson (2003)

Type Locality Information
From Wilson (2003): ST. VINCENT: West Indies, col. H. H. Smith.

Etymology
Named after the Antilles, the native region of the species. (Wilson 2003)

Additional References
Forel, A. 1893. Formicides de l’Antille St. Vincent, récoltés par Mons. H. H. Smith. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 1893: 333–418.

Text and images from this publication used by permission of the author.