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Pheidole cockerelli WheelerHNS

Pheidole cockerelli WheelerHNS 1908h: 464.

Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard.

Etymology Named after the American entomologist and co-collector of the type series T. D. A. Cockerell.

Diagnosis A member of the fallaxHNS group distinguished by the following combination of traits.

Major: light reddish brown; a rugoreticulum extends from around the anterior and posterior margins of each eye mesad to the circular carinulae of the antennal fossa; longitudinal carinulae densely covering the frontal lobes extend posteriorly to the occipital border; anterior half of pronotal dorsum and posterior half of the mesonotum transversely carinulate; all of the head, mesosoma, and waist foveolate and opaque to subopaque except the dorsum of the petiole, which, with the gaster, is smooth and shiny. Minor: all of the head and mesosoma foveolate and opaque; dorsum of the waist and all of the gaster smooth and shiny; occiput narrowed, with a thin collar.

Similar to acamataHNS, cielanaHNS, and sciaraHNS, as well as the other species listed in the heading, differing in many details in the above characters and others as illustrated. Most likely to be confused with sciaraHNS, a less common species that occurs through much of the range of cockerelliHNS.

Measurements (mm) Lectotype major: HW 1.38, HL 1.50, SL 1.02, EL 0.24, PW 0.74. Paralectotype minor: HW 0.62, HL 0.78, SL 0.90, EL 0.18, PW 0.44.

Color Major: concolorous light reddish brown, except rear half of gaster, which is a contrasting medium brown. Minor: concolorous yellowish brown.

Range Oklahoma, Colorado, western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.

Biology In Colorado, Gregg (1963) found cockerelliHNS nesting at 1700-1900 m, under rocks in the clayey soil of short-grass prairie. Creighton (1950a) lists it as a desert ant in Arizona and New Mexico. Stefan Cover (personal communication) found it in the Chiricahua, Huachuca, and Santa Maria Mts. of Arizona at 1460-1740 m nesting in open soil and grass clumps variously in desert grassland, grazed grasslands with scattered oak, and juniper-oak creek-valley woodland. In western Texas, O. F. Francke encountered cockerelliHNS in a nest in the open soil of mesquite-creosote-cactus scrubland (Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard series). Winged reproductives were present in Arizona nests from late June to mid-July.

Figure Upper: lectotype, major. Lower: paralectotype, minor. NEW MEXICO: Arroyo Pecos, Las Vegas (T. D. A. Cockerell and W. M. Wheeler). Scale bars = 1 mm.