Pheidole irritans (F. Smith)

Type location South Africa (Myrmica irritans, F Smith, 1858b: 127, minor; in Pheidole, Dixey & Longstaff, 1907: 331); minor worker only described (see Bolton, 1995) .

Smith's (1858b) description is at . Curiously not mentioned by Arnold (1920a, 1926) as among the Pheidole of South Africa.

The photomontage is of a syntype minor worker collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0901311

Significantly smaller than the minor of the type Pheidole punctulata; TL 2.7 mm vs 3.0 mm; HW 0.6 vs 0.67; HL 0.62 vs 0.71; PW 0.35 vs 0.41. Postpetiole L = W; punctulata L < W; CI 89 vs 89; SI 118 vs 107

Oxford University Museum specimens

Pheidole irritans B Taylor det.

Zimbabwe Peter Hlavác Pheidole No 5

Chipinga

In personal collection of Peter Hlavác

1

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Zimbabwe, Chipinga, from Peter Hlavác.

Previously identified by me as a minor of P. punctulatus.