''Pheidole komori'' is a species of ant in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Myrmicinae Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and ...

Habitat and distribution

First described in 2013, ''Pheidole komori'' was collected in dry forest, coastal scrub land, or along a roadside, and all at elevations between 5 and 50 m from two islands of the

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

: Moheli and Anjouan. ''Pheidole komori'' was also found in

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

and sand forest in the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. This species could belong to a yet undefined

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

species group, and may be related to morphologically similar species like '' P. strator'' from

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

, ''P. strator'' var. ''fugax'' from Mozambique, or '' P. schultzei'' var. ''gwaaiensis'' from Zimbabwe. The presence of this species in Africa along with related species suggests that ''P. komori'' most probably has an Afrotropical origin and did not originate in the Comoros.

Description

In the Malagasy region, this medium-sized '' Pheidole'' is easily distinguished from the teneriffana group and other species revised here by minor workers that combine a distinct promesonotal posterior process with a convex postpetiolar ventral process and major workers that combine the distinct promesonotal posterior process with a more elongate head shape and posterolateral lobes that are not rugose or reticulate.

References

* komori Insects described in 2013 {{myrmicinae-stub