Pheidole punctulata Mayr

Soldier - Minor - Type location South Africa (Mayr, 1866b: 899, soldier; Arnold, 1920a: 421, worker, queen & male); atrox (Forel, 1913b: 328, soldier, worker & queen; with junior synonym inquilina, Forel, 1914d: 240, worker, from Zimbabwe) from Zaïre (Lumbumbashi [Elizabethville], by J. Bequaert); spinosa (Forel, 1891b: soldier & worker; illustrated by Emery, 1919a) from Madagascar and subatrox from Zaïre (Santschi, 1937g: 76, soldier & worker), speculifrons (Stitz, 1911b: 386, soldier & worker) from Tanzania;all forms described (see Bolton, 1995) .

I agree with Dalla Torre (1893: 95) and Emery (1915j: 235) that Pheidole talpa (Gerstäcker, 1871: 356, soldier; Santschi, 1930b: 67, worker & queen) is a junior synonym of punctulata and not of megacephala as thought by Santschi (1925h: 160) and listed in Bolton (1995: 331) - note specially the rhomboid pronotum with acute angles.

Mayr's (1866b) description is at . Arnold's (1920a) fuller description is at , and . Stitz's (1911b) description of speculifrons is at . Forel's (1913b) description of atrox is at . Arnold's (1920a) translation of atrox is at . Forel's (1914d) description of inquilina is at . Gerstäcker's (1871) description of talpa is at . Emery's (1915j) revisionary notes are at . Santschi's (1930d) description of atrox is at . Santschi's (1937g) description of atrox is at . Santschi's (1937g) description of subatrox is at .

Listed also by Wheeler (1922) from Guinea (Mamou, F. Silvestri), Ivory Coast (Assinie, C. Alluaud) and Congo (Ogowe, Mocquerys). He described it (as a ssp of megacephala) as a well-known and widely distributed Ethiopian form, apparently more abundant in Zaïre than the "typical" form of megacephala. Nesting sites were in damp situations, such as under heaps of decomposed moist grass. Forel (1909b) listed a number of findings from the Congo Basin, South Africa and Zanzibar. He noted that in Benguela they were a pest everywhere. Santschi (1935) identified atrox soldiers and workers from Luluaborg, Zaïre, which were with coccids - "ants living at the foot of herbs and trees on which were living Coccids, notably a species shaped like a Bishop's mitre"; some were collected feeding on a cow's heart (?"coeur du boeuf").

Major - the photomontage is of specimens from Kwazulu, Natal, South Africa, Dragensberge (Injiauti NP), S 29°07.7' E 29°25.3'; 1500 m; 6.ii.2004; Peter Hlavác; several majors and minors. These closely match the original descriptions and, so, I have removed what I earlier had listed as crassinoda to a separate status. Other images can be seen in the folder at -

Minor