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Pheidole chalca WheelerHNS

Pheidole chalca WheelerHNS 1914c: 44.

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Presumably from Gr chalkos, copper, alluding to the body color.

Diagnosis A small-medium species, with angulate postpetiole and bicolorous head in the major. Similar to chalcoidesHNS, but distinguished in the major by the smooth humerus, which is less prominent in dorsal-oblique view; broader, angular-sided postpetiolar node; and yellow occiput; and in the minor by the unarmed humerus and smooth pronotal dorsum. Also similar but less so to arhuacaHNS, caulicolaHNS, mincanaHNS, saganaHNS, schmalziHNS, and tragicaHNS, differing in details of body shape, and sculpture as illustrated, and color.

Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.04, HL 1.24, SL 0.54, EL 0.14, PW 0.52. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.52, HL 0.60, SL 0.50, EL 0.12, PW 0.38.

color Major: anterior third of head and occiput yellow, remainder of head brown; body yellowish to light brown;

appendages light yellow.

Minor: brownish yellow.

Range Hidalgo and Veracruz, Mexico.

biology Mann (in Wheeler 1914c) found numerous small colonies in oak-pine woodland near Molino Guerrero, an ore mill on the eastern slope of the mountain range east of Pachuca; they were nesting under stones. I found a nest of several chambers about 15 cm below the surface in the dense clay soil of Liquidambar woods adjacent to a meadow at approximately 1700 m on the south slope of Pico Orizaba. Workers were foraging along an adjacent trail. Sexual pupae were in the nest on 23 August.

Figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. MEXICO: Molino Guerrero (Guerrero Mill), Hidalgo, 2600-2700 m (W. M. Mann). Scale bars = 1 mm.