Pheidole crassinoda Emery

Type location South Africa (Pheidole crassinoda n. sp., Emery, 1895h: 32, major & minor; Mayr, 1907b: 12, queen & male) from Makapan - see below
junior synonyms (here)
pluto (Pheidole crassinoda, Emery, var. pluto, n. v., Arnold, 1920a: 473, major & minor) from Mozambique, Amatongas Forest - see below
sordidula (Pheidole crassinoda, Em., v. sordidula n. v., Santschi, 1937a: 54, major, minor & male) from Tanzania, Nyerengere, D Reichensperger - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0913296
cerdo (Pheidole crassinoda, Em. st. ruspolii Em. v. cerdo, n. v. = Ph. crassinoda Em. v. ruspolii Arnold, Santschi, 1937a: 54, all forms) from South Africa - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0913298
all forms known (see Bolton, 1995) .

With the availability on Antweb of images of the Pheidole ruspolii type major and associated minor worker, plus sexuals, I have elevated ruspolii to full species status. An immediate distinction is the shorter scapes of ruspolii.

Emery's (1895h) description is at . Mayr's (1907b) description of the queen & male is at . Arnold (1920a) gave a translation, this is at . Arnold's (1920a) description of pluto is at . Santschi's (1937a) description of sordidula is at . Santschi's (1937a) description of cerdo is at .

This may be an immigrant from savannah woodland, as Kemp (1951) studied its foraging activity and related how it was among the principal predators of the eggs of tsetse flies at Shinyanga in Tanzania (as Tanganyika). There it was ground-nesting. The identification had been by Donisthorpe, of the British Museum (Natural History), and Kemp noted how the workers were inseparable from those of Pheidole sculpturata Mayr.

The photomontage of a syntype major is collated from http://antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0281183
Note the head appears foreshortened in the full face view; Emery gave the dimensions as 2.6 X 2.4 mm (judging from the lateral view that is HL X HW).

Note: as with almost all Antweb images these have an over-riding magenta tint.  Emery described the species as piceous (very dark brown) with reddish appendages.

The photomontage of a syntype minor is collated from http://antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0281184 . Note the original colour was stated as pitch - presumably this and the specimen above have faded with time.

The photomontage of a syntype major of pluto is collated from http://antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0906526.

The specimens in these field photographs, nest below, were taken in Pretoria, South Africa, by Joan Young; nos 101_1551 to 1556 & 101_1567 to 1568. A single major was photographed whilst being attacked and dismembered by the much smaller Pheidole foreli - see photograph on that species page

Oxford University Museum specimens

Pheidole crassinoda B Taylor det.

Tanzania V Grebennikov

03-08.x.2002 W Usambara Mts 3°15.3' S 37°31.05' E

Lushoto District, Grant's Lodge; Mkusu R., 3-4 km upstream of Kifungilo; 1660 m

2

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Usambara Mts, Tanzania; collector Vasily Grebennikov.

The Sexuals from Arnold (1920a, 1926: Pl. VI).