Pheidole is a staggering ant genus; with over 1,100 members known to science, it is amongst the largest of the plant and animal genera on the planet.
These ants have reduced stings and instead rely on biting and repellent chemicals to defend themselves.
The earliest known Pheidole fossils date back to the early Oligocene, making this genus at least 28 million years old (it's thought to be closer to 60 million) and Wilson notes that the only major niches Pheidole has failed to occupy despite its staggering anatomical variation and adaptation is fungus-growing, slave-making and army ant style mass raiding. They do harvest seeds and inhabit ant-plants, though.
Most species of Pheidole are dimorphic (colonies contain "minor" and "major" workers), which are starkly contrasted, but a number (8 or so) are trimophic, having a "supermajor" or "supersoldier" worker subcaste in addition. They are found in warm reigions.
Pheidole fimbriata is a particularly interesting species, thoguht to be an evolutionary sister to the rest of the genus, it is a predaceous Neotropical species.
hyatti
megacephala
oculata
pallidula
rhea
- Edward O. Wilson (Pages)
Edward 'Ed' Osborne Wilson profile - Pheidole (Pages)
Pheidole ant genus - Pheidole fimbriata (Pages)
Pheidole fimbriata - Pheidole hyatti (Pages)
Pheidole hyatti species profile - Pheidole megacephala: The bigheaded ant (Pages)
Pheidole megacephala, The Bigheaded Ant species profile - Pheidole oculata (Pages)
Pheidole oculata species profile - Pheidole pallidula (Pages)
Pheidole pallidula - Pheidole rhea (Pages)
Pheidole rhea species profile - Ehab Abouheif on the research into supersoldier ants of the Pheidole genus (News)
- Scientists create 'supersoldiers' (News)
Tags: Pheidole | E.O. Wilson
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