Pheidole reflexans Santschi 1933

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 53

Pheidole reflexans Santschi 1933 . NEW STATUS.

Pheidole radoszkowskii var. reflexans Santschi 1933: 109 . [w syntypes examined, NHMB; Argentina , Misiones, Est. Exp. Loreto].

Pheidole radoszkowskii var. reflexans Santschi. Wilson 2003: 221 ; junior synonym of Pheidole radoszkowskii Mayr.

Wilson (2003) took a broad view of Pheidole radoszkowskii and synonymized several names, including Santschi’s variety reflexans . The evidence for resurrecting P. reflexans to species is strong, however. Both P. radoszkowskii and P. reflexans are locally sympatric across eastern Paraguay, with the former species commonly found in open habitats such as campo cerrado, roadside, and pasture, while the later is restricted to closed forests. Pheidole reflexans can be one of the most common forest-floor ants and is frequently recovered in sifted litter samples from subtropical tall forests. The morphological differences between the two forms are consistent across eastern Paraguay. Pheidole reflexans is more gracile , with considerably longer legs and antennal scapes, and in Paraguay is also somewhat more pilose in the major caste, supporting> 10 suberect setae on gastric tergite 1 (= abd. tergite 4). This pilosity difference appears to be regional, as Mayr’s P. radoszkowskii types from French Guiana (NHMW, examined) are more pilose than the Paraguayan populations of the same species.