The first discovery of the 'Pheidole quadricuspis group' in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

摘要

Pheidole leloi is described as a new species based on a colony series collected in an evergreen forest on the Da Lat Plateau's eastern edge (Hon Ba Nature Reserve, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam). It is the first discovery of the Pheidole quadricuspis group in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The p-distance between COI sequences of P leloi and its putative named allies of the species group is 13.4-15.8%. This may indicate that P leloi has been genetically isolated for several million years. An ancestor of P. leloi probably expanded its distribution into the Indo-Chinese peninsula during the Miocene expansions of rainforests, and survived into rainforest patches (refugia) during the Quaternary glacial age.