Pheidole gemmula ^HNS new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology L gemmula ^HNS, small jewel.

Diagnosis A member of the perpusilla ^HNS group (very small, with 10-segmented antennae), distinguished as follows. Major: all of dorsum of head except frontal triangle and mid-clypeus covered by longitudinal carinulae; in side view, promesonotal profile forms an unbroken, near-perfect semicircle; propodeal spine small; postpetiolar node in side view depressed; mesosoma, waist, and gaster entirely devoid of sculpture.

Minor: in side view, promesonotal profile forms an unbroken, near-perfect semicircle; propodeal spines reduced to denticles; other than carinulae around the antennal fossae, the entire body lacks sculpturing, and is entirely smooth and shiny. measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.72, HL 0.72, SL 0.36, EL 0.10, PW 0.34. Paratype minor: HW 0.42, HL 0.44, SL 0.32, EL 0.06, PW 0.24.

color Major: body medium yellow, except for rear four-fifths of head, which is yellowish brown, and a yellowish brown spot in the center of the first gastral tergite.

Minor: concolorous clear yellow.

Range Known only from the type locality.

Biology The type series is a colony fragment found in a moist white fragment of rotting wood buried in leaf litter, on the floor of mature terra firme rainforest.

figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. PERU: Cuzco Amazonico, 15 km northeast of Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios (Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin). Scale bars = 1 mm.