Pheidole zeteki M. R. Smith

Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press : 554

Pheidole zeteki M. R. Smith

Pheidole zeteki M. R. Smith 1947h: 194.

Types Nat. Mus. Nat. Hist. U. S.; Mus Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Named after James Zetek, early biologist of the Barro Colorado Field Station.

Diagnosis A member of the perpusilla group (very small, with 10-segmented antennae), close to perpusilla , and distinguished as follows.

Major: anterior half of dorsum of head mostly covered by longitudinal carinulae, and posterior half foveolate and opaque; propodeal spines long and backward-directed; dorsum of postpetiolar node and anterior half of central strip of first gastral tergite foveolate and opaque.

Minor: all of head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque.

Measurements (mm) Major (Trinidad): HW 0.66, HL 0.66, SL 0.34, EL 0.08, PW 0.34. Minor (Trinidad): HW 0.32, HL 0.36, SL 0.30, EL 0.06, PW 0.24. Color Major: concolorous medium yellow. Minor: concolorous light reddish yellow.

Range Known from single collections on Barro Colorado, Panama; Morne Bleu, Northern Range and the Blanchiseusse Road, Trinidad; Puyo, Pastaza, Ecuador; and Cuzco Amazonico, near Maldonado, Peru.

Biology The colony found on the Blanchiseusse Road in Trinidad was in montane rainforest, nesting in a very decayed log (Stefan Cover, collection notes).

figure Upper: major. Lower: minor. TRINIDAD: Blanchiseusse Road, 10 km marker. Scale bars = 1 mm.