Pheidole tarchon Wilson, 2003, new species

Pheidole tarchon new species Types Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard. Etymology Named after Tarchon, founder of Tarquinii and the Etruscan dodecapolis. Diagnosis Similar to tetrica and victima, distinguished as follows. Major: brownish yellow; head covered by carinulae, except for occiput, the frontal triangle, strip behind the frontal triangle, and midclypeus; dorsal profile of promesonotum flat, dropping steeply to metanotum through a posterior face; head quadrate, Head Width equaling Head Length, antennal scape long, its tip touching the side of the head in full-face view two-thirds from eye to occipital corner; petiolar node in side view thick, with broad, semicircular apex; postpetiole from above bell-shaped; anterior fringe of pronotal dorsum carinulate, and mesosoma otherwise completely smooth and shiny. Minor: promesonotal profile in side view flat; body almost completely smooth and shiny; antennal scape long; occiput moderately narrowed in full-face view but lacking nuchal collar. measurements (mm) Holotype major: HW 1.22, HL 1.22, SL 0.82, EL 0.18, PW 0.52. Paratype minor: HW 0.68, HL 0.72, SL 0.66, EL 0.14, PW 0.40. color Major and minor: concolorous brownish yellow. Range Known only from the type locality. Biology The type colony was collected in alder woods in a ravine; a winged queen was in the nest on 30 January. Figure Upper: holotype, major. Lower: paratype, minor. ARGENTINA: 3 km northeast of Tafi del Valle, Tucuman, about 2200 m (W. L. Brown). Scale bars = 1 mm.
Published as part of Wilson, E. O., 2003, Pheidole in the New World. A dominant, hyperdiverse ant genus., Cambridge, MA :Harvard University Press on page 517