Pheidole striaticeps HNS Mayr

Pheidole striaticeps HNS Mayr 1870b: 987.

Types Naturhist. Mus. Wien.

Etymology L striaticeps HNS, lined (striate) head.

Diagnosis A member of the flavens HNS group close to chloe HNS, less so to the other species listed in the heading, distinguished as follows. Major: antennal scrobes present; entire dorsal surface of head covered by longitudinal carinulae, which curve inwardly toward midline at occiput; humerus prominent and rounded in dorsal-oblique view; mesonotal convexity present, especially in dorsal-oblique view; head wider than long (Head Width/Head Length 1.03); pronotum transversely carinulate. Minor: carinulae absent from around thorax-propodeal suture.

Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.06, HL 1.02, SL 0.56, EL 0.12, PW 0.50. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.62, HL 0.62, SL 0.56, EL 0.08, PW 0.42. Color Major: concolorous light reddish brown. Minor: concolorous light reddish brown.

Range Mexico (almost certainly tropical Mexico), Honduras, Costa Rica, and Amazonian Peru. Longino (1997) does not distinguish this species from chloe HNS, although the two are different. He reports " striaticeps HNS, " which may include both species, from the Atlantic slope to 500 m and Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica.

Biology Longino (1997) reports " striaticeps HNS, " which may include both true striaticeps HNS and chloe HNS, from mature rainforest, nesting under the bark of rotting stumps and logs. At Cuzco Amazonico, near Puerto Maldonado, Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin found a colony in a gap within mature rainforest, beneath the bark of a rotten but still hard log.

Figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. MEXICO. Scale bars = 1 mm.