Pheidole madrensis ^HNS new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology L madrensis ^HNS, referring to the Sierra Madre Occidental, the mountains of origin of the type colony.

Diagnosis A member of the fallax ^HNS group similar in various traits to the species listed in the heading above, distinguished as follows. Major: propodeal spines equilaterally triangular in side view; rugoreticulum of head a band from eye to antennal fossa; carinulae on head extend more than halfway from level of eyes to level of occiput; occipital margin in full-face view strongly convex; dorsal pronotal profile in dorsal-oblique view faintly bilobous; postpetiole from above elliptical, with angulate lateral borders; anterior and lateral pronotal margins carinulate.

Minor: a rugula stretches across the anterior rim of the middle clypeal segment; propodeal spines equilaterally triangular in side view; pronotum smoothly convex in dorsal-oblique view; occiput shallowly convex. measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.24, HL 1.36, SL 0.84, EL 0.20, PW 0.66. Paratype minor: HW 0.64, HL 0.74, SL 0.84, EL 0.18, PW 0.44. color Major: body light reddish brown, appendages dark yellow.

Minor: body rich dark reddish brown, antennae plain medium brown, other appendages reddish yellow.

Range Known only from the type locality.

Biology Unknown.

figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. MEXICO: 120 km south of Creel, Barranca de Rio Batopilas, Chihuahua, 1000 m (W. Bell and J. Reddell). Scale bars = 1 mm.