Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida
Date of this Version
March 1985
Abstract
The genus Pheidole is one of the more important ant genera in the world Approximately 1000 species are now known. Over 400 of these are found in the Neotropical region (Kempf, 1972), and about 75 taxa are known from North America north of Mexico. Pheidole spp. are abundant in many areas, and live in varying habitats ranging from the humid tropics to deserts. They are able to survive in some areas by their habits of collecting and storing seeds as food resources. They are also scavengers of dead insects and other animals, and can be predacious. Some species tends aphids and other homopterans, but this food source, so important to many ant species, is probably of relatively minor importance to most species of Pheidole.
Comments
Published in Insecta Mundi Vol. 1, no. 2, March 1985. Copyright © 1986 Naves.
Insecta Mundi, published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, is available online at http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/.