Pheidole trinitatis ^HNS new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Named after the country from which the type specimens originated.

diagnosis Similar to exigua ^HNS, flavens ^HNS, moerens ^HNS, nitidicollis ^HNS, nuculiceps ^HNS, orbica ^HNS, pholeops ^HNS, and sculptior ^HNS, distinguished as follows. Major: reddish yellow, with brown gaster; rugoreticulum fills space between eyes, antennal fossa, and anterior head border on each side of head; very small patch of rugoreticulum on humerus; carinulae of frontal lobes extend posteriorly only to midpoint of head; all of head and body except gaster foveolate and opaque; mesonotal convexity well-developed; pronotal profile in dorsal-oblique view feebly bilobate; postpetiole from above diamond-shaped; pilosity sparse.

Minor: ventral profile of head in side view feebly concave; eyes set well forward on head and slightly tapered anteriorly; humerus dentate in dorsal-oblique view; all of body except gaster foveolate and opaque, and carinulae limited to antennal fossae; mesosomal pilosity sparse, consisting at least partly of widely spaced pairs of setae. measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.90, HL 0.54, SL 0.48, EL 0.10, PW 0.44. Paratype minor: HW 0.46, HL 0.50, SL 0.44, EL 0.06, PW 0.30.

color Major: body appendages medium reddish yellow ("orange") except for gaster, which is plain medium brown. Minor: concolorous light reddish yellow ("light orange").

Range Known from the type locality, and from the Arena Forest Reserve, St. Andrew Co., Trinidad.

biology The type colony was found in a floodplain forest, nesting in a dead twig; and the Arena Forest Reserve colony was in secondary lowland rainforest, in a hollow fruit buried in sandy soil.

Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. TRINIDAD: Bridge 1/7, east of Valencia, St. Andrew Parish (Stefan Cover). Scale bars = 1 mm.