Pheidole ademonia Wilson, 2003, new species

Pheidole ademonia new species

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

etymology Gr ademonia, troubled, distressed.

Diagnosis A small yellow member of the flavens group, similar to the species listed in the heading above, distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: antennal scrobe present, its surface weakly foveolate; occiput rugoreticulate, with remainder of dorsal head surface longitudinally carinulate; carinulae near the cephalic midline curving inward; promesonotal dorsal profde forms a single high, semicircular curve.

Minor: almost identical to that of sospes (see illustration of that species). Measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 0.74, HL 0.80, SL 0.36, EL 0.06, PW 0.34. Paratype minor: HW 0.38, HL 0.40, SL 0.34, EL 0.06, PW 0.24. Color Major: concolorous medium reddish yellow. Minor: concolorous plain medium yellow.

Range Known from the type locality and from several series collected at the Yasuni National Park, Ecuador.

biology Two series were collected at the type locality in terra firme forest. One was a small group of ants found beneath the bark

of a rotten log, the other several strays in soil (Stefan Cover, unpublished notes).

Figure Holotype, major. PERU: Cuzco Amazonico, 15 km northeast of Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios (Stefan Cover and John E. Tobin). (The minor is nearly identical to that of P. sospes, q.v.). Scale bar = 1 mm.