Pheidole zambesiana Forel new status

Type location Zimbabwe (Pheidole sculpturata Mayr r. zambesiana n. st., Forel, 1913a: 133, major & minor) from Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, collected by G Arnold - see below.

New status her. Readily separated from Pheidole sculpturata by the lack of erect hairs on the major and the minor. The major also has a distinctive pattern of decumbent hairs/pubescence on the head and a petiole which viewed from above is.

Forel's (1913a) description is at . Arnold (1920a: 464) gave a translation of zambesiana, this is at .

The photomontage is of the type major collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0249078.

TL ca 4.8 mm, HL 1.93, HW 1.82, SL 0.67, PW 0.79, CI 98, SI 0.38.

Head with anrerior margin of clypeus straight; in profile the head is deep at the level of the eyes then narrowing dramatically to occiput; mesonotal welt very low, propodeal spines short and triangular; pedicel low, postpetiole from above with a shallowly convex anterior and ends very sharp; key character is almots total lack of erect hairs, whole body coveered in dense decumbent pubescence, on frons this is arranged in a pattern radiating out from the midline; overall appearance dull. Closest relative appears to be Pheidole arnoldi but that has an elongated head and much less pubescence.

The photomontage is of a cotype minor collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0249077.

TL ca 2.5 mm, HL 0.55, HW 0.55, SL 0.52, PW 0.32, CI 100, SI 94.

Like the major almost lacking erect hairs although the decumbent pubescence on the head is long; whole of head and alitruck densely but finely spiculate, including the frons; alitrunk with a low profile, and a weak mesonotal welt, propodeal spines reduced to small triangles; postpetiole sub-spherical, weakly ovoid from above.