I found a tiny (soldiers 2 mm length) Pheidole species living in the greened middle islands of a central Florida town’s downtown, and at first I thought it was Pheidole parva.
But after looking at macro shots of the workers and soldiers, I had to admit that they were not that species, and I tentatively noted it down as another imported invasive, the equally tiny Pheidole flavens. When I had been looking at them in situ, the coloration of their bodies did tip me off, as they seemed a bit too orangey in color for the darker colored P. parva.
The colonies of this species are probably small, and the soldiers seemed quite timid, although they managed to capture a fast moving Pheidole obscurithorax minor that had strayed too close to the cookie bait.
The interesting thing is that my readings say that this species makes its home in more natural settings, but I found several colonies in the middle of a downtown, so either I have uncovered some new behavior or I misidentified the specimens.
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