Contents Contents The Ants of Egypt
SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE - Genus Pheidole
Pheidole pallidula (Nylander) - minor workers

Pheidole pallidula (Nylander) - minors

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Nylander (1842) gave the minor as pale rust; sparse long hairs, long antennae, TL 2 mm, Messina, Sicily. In brief, the description of O. subdentata major by Mayr, 1853a, 1855; Emery, 1869; was TL 4.23 mm; mandibles smooth, with fine points; reddish yellow, hind leg brownish; Austria.


MINOR - new description TL ca 2.7 mm; pronotal width = PW, PI = (PW/ HW) X 100;
CI 87 SI 124 OI 22 - Spain - Gomez
CI 83 SI 123 OI 25 PI 65 - Croatia - Antweb
CI 87 SI 121 OI 26 PI 63 - Egypt - Kaseh
The head is subrectangular with no more than weakly convex sides but rounded posterior angles and a slight median convexity of the occiput; without a nuchal collar
The mandibles moderately long, with a mixture of minute teeth and small teeth on the masticatory margin; and with a single larger apical teeth; there is a distinctive covering of curved erect hairs, these are absent of inconspicuous in the other group members
The anterior margin of the clypeus is evenly but shallowly convex and is completely smooth; with a central pair of conspicuous forward facing long hairs and finer, shorter, lateral hairs
The frontal carinae are very short and almost parallel; set quite close together, about one-third the width of the head at the level of the antennal insertions
Scapes long and slender, thickening very slightly in the apical one-third, surpassing the occiput by about 1/6 of their length; funiculus about 1.4 X longer than scape; the 3-segmented club has the apical segment no longer than either the other two; the pre-apical segments are about less than twice as long as they are wide
The eye is quite large and quite strongly convex; the anteriormost point is a little more than its own length back from the anterior point of the genae
The alitrunk profile has the promesonotum evenly and moderately convex with the pro-mesonotal suture just visible and not interrupting the profile; from above the pronotum is near circular and evenly convex at the widest point; the metanotal groove is distinct and fairly deeply impressed both dorsally and laterally; the propodeum has the dorsum convex in profile and faint lateral margination culminating in small teeth or angular prominences, the declivity is slightly convex
The petiole has a fairly short pedicel and a moderately high, narrowly triangular profile, with the apex angular, the posterior face is convex;
The postpetiole has a fairly high globular profile and from above is hexagonal and about twice as wide as the petiole
The gaster is globular viewed both laterally and, less so, from above; it has a straight anterior margin
The legs are relatively long with moderately swollen femora
The whole of the head, body, antennae and legs bear quite fine erect hairs; these stand up in such a way as to give the ant a shaggy appearance
Shiny with very little sculpturation other than very fine longitudinal striations on the lateral head and quite coarse puncturation on the lateral mesonotum and the propodeum
Overall yellow-brown (Egypt specimens generally darker) without particularly darker areas.


{Pheidole pallidula minorThe photomontage is of what appears to be a minor, matching the Emery (1916j) illustration of the recticeps form from Egypt, Kaseh Tourist Village, collected by Mostafa Sharaf, 7.viii.2007.


{Pheidole pallidula minorThe photomontage is a minor from Spain, Sant Celoni, Barcelona, collected by Xavier Espadaler, 27.x.2008.


{Pheidole pallidula minor Spain}The photomontage of what appears to be a good match for the type form minor is collated from http://www.hormigas.org which deals primarily with the ants of Spain.


{Pheidole pallidula minorThe photomontage is a minor from Iran, Joghatay-Sabzevar-Khorasan, collected by R Nafisi (24); 16.x.2012.


{Pheidole pallidula minorThe photomontage is a dark form minor from Iran, Sheshtamab-Sabzeva-Khorasan, collected by R Nafisi (27); 24.iii.2013.

©2005, 2006, 2015 - Brian Taylor CBiol FRSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

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