Pheidole erythraea Emery - new status

Type location Eritrea (not Ethiopia) (Pheidole Aeberlii For. var. erythraea n. var., Emery, 1901e: 61, major & minor) from Massua and Ghinda, collector Belli .

Emery's (1901e) description is at .

Raised on the basis of the clear distinction from Pheidole aeberlii (see key and below for separation).

Wheeler (1922) noted P. aeberlii from Sudan (Omdurman, I Trägårdh); speculatively that was P. erythraea.

The photomontage of a major worker from one of the two sites (Massua) in Emery (1901) is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0904202.

The photomontage of a minor worker from one of the two sites (Massua) in Emery (1901) is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0904203. This, however, is larger, TL > 3.5 mm, than Emery gave at TL 3.0 mm. 

The (2013) Antweb photos appear to confirm that this photomontage is of a major worker that is a good match for erythraea, i.e smaller (TL 4.8 mm), with sharper propodeal spines, finer striation on the vertex, and a paler colour than P. aeberlii; collected from Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, from Peter Hlavác. Other images can be seen in the folder at - 

The minor, shown below, has a quite different head shape, being somewhat square with a near straight occiput unlike the ovoid head of the aeberliii minor, and quite distinct from the above minor.

Specimens in the personal collection of Peter Hlavác.

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, from Peter Hlavác.