Pheidole sinaitica Mayr - minors

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MINOR - new description TL ca 2.7 mm; CI 79, MI 40, SI 142, OI 30, PI 52
Head a somewhat elongated oval; with a nuchal collar
Mandibles moderately long, with a mixture of minute teeth and small teeth on the masticatory margin; and without two larger apical teeth
Anterior margin of clypeus straight or very weakly convex, without a median or any other carinae; with only four conspicuous forward facing long hairs
Frontal carinae short but widest apart at posterior limit; 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 apical one-third, surpassing the occiput by about 1/6 of their length; funiculus about 25% longer than scape; the 3-segmented club has the apical segment not much longer than the other two; the pre-apical segments are about twice as long as they are wide
The eye is quite large and quite strongly convex; the anteriormost point is its own length back from the anterior point of the genae
Alitrunk profile with promesonotum evenly and moderately convex with the pro-mesonotal suture just visible and not interrupting the profile; the metanotal groove is distinct but shallowly 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 concave
The petiole has a fairly long pedicel and a moderately high triangular profile, with the apex angular; the postpetiole has a low globular profile and from above is about twice as wide as the petiole, with the widest part being the posterior margin
The gaster is narrowly ovoid viewed both laterally and from above; it has a straight anterior margin
The legs are relatively long with weakly swollen femora
The whole of the head, body, antennae and legs bear quite fine erect hairs
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 with somewhat lighter appendages and pedicel.

The photomontage of a minor worker from the santschii type collection is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0907794.

The photomontage is of a worker collected in Egypt and identified by Mostafa Sharat, from Ghazal Is, Aswan; E 32°53' N 24°05'; 2.v.2002.

The photomontage is of a minor worker from Israel, Tel Aviv Botanical Garden, 19.iii.2007, collected by Armin Ionescu.

Photomontage of minor specimens collected in Algeria, Oued Agelil, 19.iii.1914, collected by V Geyer; the Pheidole pallidula Nyl. v. inermis n.v. of Stitz (1917: 340).

The photomontage is of a minor worker collected in Sudan, Wad Al Abbas, 13° 46' 34.31" N 33°38'39.33" E; 10.ii.2010, by Zuheir Mahmoud.