A new species of Pheidole (Formicidae, Myrmicinae) from Dominican amber with a review of the fossil records for the genus

By

Casadei-Ferreira, Alexandre
Chaul, Julio
Feitosa, Rodrigo Machado

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

866

Pages

117-125

Subjects

Miocene , Morphological diversity , new status , taxonomy

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.866.35756

 

Abstract

Pheidole comprises approximately 1,000 extant species distributed worldwide, being particularly diverse in the New World. In addition to its high diversity and ecological prevalence, the genus is also characterized by the predominantly intraspecific dimorphism, with major and minor workers. Currently, five fossil species are known, all of which are represented only by minor workers. A new species, †Pheidoleanticuasp. nov., is described from Dominican amber, based on a major worker. Additionally, the identity of the currently known fossil species in Pheidole is discussed and †P.cordata from Baltic amber is considered as incertae sedis, resulting in no Pheidole species currently recognized for Baltic amber