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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2019)

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Americas: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Neotropical

Distribution Notes:

Mexico to Costa Rica. Costa Rica: Atlantic and southern Pacific lowlands.

Biology:

Natural History:

This species occurs in mature wet forest. It is a relatively common arboreal ant, nesting in dead branches and under epiphytes. Colonies often appear large, with workers scattered over a wide area.

Notes:

Wilson (2003) examined the lectotype major of this species. For locality he put "Puerto Jimenez, Osa Peninsula," but this is probably an error. We are not certain if that town existed in the late 1800's, and it was not one of Alfaro's standard collecting localities. In contrast, Jimenez, near present day Guapiles on the Atlantic slope, was an Alfaro collecting site. It is the type locality for many Neotropical ants, probably including nitidicollis.

Based on Wilson's illustrations and text, we are not convinced there is a difference between Emery's nitidicollis and Wheeler's sagana.

References:

Wilson, E. O. 2003. Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 30 times found in montane wet forest, 7 times found in ridgetop cloud forest, 6 times found in lowland rainforest, 3 times found in tropical wet forest, 4 times found in rainforest, 1 times found in mature rainforest, 3 times found in STR, 1 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, 3 times found in CC 1200 m., 3 times found in CC 1250, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 7 times ex sifted leaf litter, 11 times copa de árbol, 6 times beating vegetation, 2 times in fresh treefall, 4 times STR, 4 times Malaise trap, 3 times bajo de M/28, 1 times N-S leg of LEP; the following three colonies in thick dead snag, soft and rotten, 2 times at bait, 1 times nest under arboreal termite nest, 1 times nest in cavities in dead branch, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 27 times Malaise, 16 times Fogging, 6 times miniWinkler, 4 times search, 6 times Beating, 6 times Foggin, 6 times flight intercept trap, 1 times Winkler, 2 times Baiting, 1 times YPT, 1 times Mini Winkler, ...

Elevations: collected from 5 - 1150 meters, 376 meters average

Type specimens: Lectotype of Pheidole dimidiata nitidicollis: casent0904428; paralectotype of Pheidole dimidiata nitidicollis: casent0904429; paralectotype Pheidole sagana: jtlc000016517, jtlc000016518; paratype Pheidole chalcoides: casent0624252, jtlc000016346

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