Extant: 11 valid subspecies
Formica megacephala Fabricius, 1793 PDF: 361 (s.) MAURITIUS. Malagasy. Primary type information: MAURITIUS, Camizard Mt., Bambous, 20.3328 S, 57.723 E, 375 m, rainforest, ex rotten log, 27.v.2005, coll. B.L. Fisher et al., BLF12051; CASENT0104990; CASC AntCat AntWiki HOLTaxonomic history
[Unjustified emendation of spelling to megalocephala: Schulz, 1906 PDF: 155.].Latreille, 1802a PDF: 232 (q.); Mayr, 1861 PDF: 70 (s.w.q.m.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1953b PDF: 75 (l.).Combination in Myrmica: Losana, 1834 PDF: 328.Combination in Pheidole: Mayr, 1861 PDF: 70 (in key); Roger, 1863b PDF: 30.Status as species: Latreille, 1802a PDF: 232; Fabricius, 1804 PDF: 411; Losana, 1834 PDF: 328; Mayr, 1855 PDF: 458 (footnote); Mayr, 1861 PDF: 70 (in key); Roger, 1863b PDF: 30, 49; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 441; Dours, 1873 PDF: 169; André, 1874c: 198 (in key); Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 463; Forel, 1881 PDF: 8; André, 1883b: 383 (in key); Nasonov, 1889: 38; Saunders, 1890 PDF: 205; Forel, 1891c PDF: 176 (redescription); Emery, 1891c: 13; Dalla Torre, 1892 PDF: 90; Emery, 1892c PDF: 160; Mayr, 1893b PDF: 201; Forel, 1893j PDF: 417; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Emery, 1893e PDF: 84; Emery, 1893h PDF: 243; Forel, 1895e PDF: 227, 231; Emery, 1895d PDF: 294; Emery, 1895g PDF: 337; Emery, 1895m: 468; Saunders, 1896 PDF: 42; Emery, 1897f PDF: 598; Forel, 1899a PDF: 118; Forel, 1899b PDF: 76; Emery, 1899e PDF: 280; Emery, 1900: 682; Forel, 1901j PDF: 365; Forel, 1901m PDF: 81; Emery, 1901i PDF: 567; Ruzsky, 1902d PDF: 26; Forel, 1902c PDF: 173 (in key); Forel, 1902g PDF: 543; Forel, 1902j PDF: 433; Bingham, 1903 PDF: 242; Forel, 1903f PDF: 406; Mayr, 1904b PDF: 7; Ruzsky, 1905b: 650; Wheeler, 1905c PDF: 125; Wheeler, 1906j PDF: 349; Wheeler, 1907b PDF: 272; Mayr, 1907b PDF: 13; Forel, 1907g: 91; Forel, 1907h PDF: 17; Forel, 1907i PDF: 81; Forel, 1908b PDF: 3; Forel, 1908c PDF: 52; Forel, 1908a PDF: 65; Santschi, 1908 PDF: 517; Wheeler, 1908a PDF: 133; Forel, 1909i PDF: 226; Wheeler, 1909c PDF: 272; Wheeler, 1909d PDF: 336; Santschi, 1910c PDF: 370; Yano, 1910a PDF: 419; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 563; Wheeler, 1911a PDF: 23; Forel, 1912a PDF: 69; Forel, 1912g PDF: 234; Forel, 1913f PDF: 662; Forel, 1913g PDF: 193; Forel, 1913l PDF: 27; Wheeler, 1913b PDF: 492; Santschi, 1914b PDF: 75; Santschi, 1914d PDF: 336; Santschi, 1914e: 22; Stitz, 1914 PDF: 67; Wheeler & Mann, 1914 PDF: 22; Forel, 1915a PDF: 28; Forel, 1915b PDF: 66; Emery, 1915i PDF: 235, 238; Donisthorpe, 1915f: 338; Crawley, 1915b: 235; Wheeler & Mann, 1916 PDF: 170; Stitz, 1917 PDF: 340; Wheeler, 1917g PDF: 458; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 65; Santschi, 1920i PDF: 2; Emery, 1921c PDF: 85; Wheeler, 1922: 131, 812, 1018; Stitz, 1923: 154; Wheeler, 1924c PDF: 243; Mann, 1925b PDF: 5; Santschi, 1925h PDF: 160; Stärcke, 1926a PDF: 87 (in key); Wheeler, 1927d PDF: 4; Wheeler, 1927g PDF: 105; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 389; Clark, 1928b PDF: 169; Cheesman & Crawley, 1928 PDF: 517; Santschi, 1928a PDF: 47; Santschi, 1928c PDF: 69; Wheeler, 1928c PDF: 11; Menozzi, 1929b PDF: 2; Wheeler, 1929h PDF: 60; Menozzi, 1930h PDF: 328; Menozzi & Russo, 1930 PDF: 152; Wheeler, 1930b PDF: 98; Wheeler, 1930k PDF: 63; Santschi, 1930b PDF: 67; Donisthorpe, 1932c PDF: 455; Wheeler, 1932e PDF: 156; Wheeler, 1932g PDF: 14; Wheeler, 1933f PDF: 142; Wheeler, 1934a PDF: 174; Wheeler, 1934i: 11; Donisthorpe, 1935 PDF: 633; Karavaiev, 1935a PDF: 77; Santschi, 1935b: 267; Wheeler, 1935g: 18; Wheeler, 1936c PDF: 198; Wheeler, 1936g PDF: 5; Smith, 1937 PDF: 843; Wheeler, 1937a PDF: 22; Santschi, 1937b PDF: 98; Santschi, 1937d PDF: 217; Menozzi, 1939c: 103; Santschi, 1939c PDF: 7; Santschi, 1939f PDF: 161; Teranishi, 1940: 58; Menozzi, 1942a PDF: 166; Weber, 1943d PDF: 305; Eidmann, 1944 PDF: 442, 469; Donisthorpe, 1946i PDF: 29; Weber, 1948b PDF: 81; Donisthorpe, 1949f PDF: 275; Bernard, 1950c PDF: 287; Donisthorpe, 1950e PDF: 1061; Smith, 1951c PDF: 803; Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 145; Menozzi & Consani, 1952 PDF: 62; Bernard, 1953b PDF: 225; Smith, 1954c PDF: 4; Wellenius, 1955 PDF: 6; Ceballos, 1956: 302; Smith, 1958c PDF: 122; Gregg, 1959 PDF: 12 (in key); Kempf, 1962b PDF: 18; Taylor & Wilson, 1962 PDF: 143; Bernard, 1967a PDF: 153 (redescription); Smith, 1967a PDF: 354; Taylor, 1967b PDF: 1094; Wilson & Taylor, 1967b PDF: 46, 103; Yarrow, 1967 PDF: 27; Bernard, 1971: 7; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 196; Alayo, 1974 PDF: 12 (in key); Bolton & Collingwood, 1975: 4 (in key); Taylor, 1976a: 84; Taylor, 1976b: 195; Báez & Ortega, 1978: 190; Smith, 1979: 1371; Collingwood, 1979 PDF: 62; Onoyama, 1980a PDF: 197; Barquín, 1981: 111; Brown, 1981 PDF: 529; Ogata, 1982 PDF: 197; Collingwood, 1985 PDF: 254; Naves, 1985 PDF: 64; Wheeler & Wheeler, 1986g PDF: 42 (in key); Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a PDF: 54; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 272 (in key); Taylor, 1987a PDF: 54; Deyrup et al., 1989 PDF: 95; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 370; Ogata, 1991b PDF: 93; Morisita et al., 1992: 24; Collingwood, 1993b PDF: 194; Hohmann et al., 1993: 156; Dlussky, 1994a: 54; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Wu & Wang, 1995a: 103; Tang et al., 1995: 57; Dorow, 1996a PDF: 79; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 PDF: 323; Berry et al., 1997 PDF: 27; Espadaler, 1997g PDF: 31; Zhou & Zheng, 1999 PDF: 84 (in key); Deyrup et al., 2000: 296; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77 (redescription) ; Markó & Csosz, 2002 PDF: 115; Wetterer, 2002 PDF: 129; Blard et al., 2003 PDF: 131; Imai et al., 2003 PDF: 159; Deyrup, 2003 PDF: 46; Lin & Wu, 2003: 65; Wetterer & Vargo, 2003 PDF: 417; Wilson, 2003a: 549 (redescription); Wetterer & Wetterer, 2004 PDF: 215; Jaitrong & Nabhitabhata, 2005 PDF: 34; Petrov, 2006 PDF: 93 (in key); Wetterer, 2006 PDF: 415; Clouse, 2007b PDF: 240; Don, 2007: 128; Wetterer et al., 2007 PDF: 31; Wetterer et al., 2007 PDF: 18; Framenau & Thomas, 2008 PDF: 71; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 55 (redescription); Heterick, 2009 PDF: 169; Terayama, 2009 PDF: 170; Mohanraj et al., 2010 PDF: 7; Collingwood et al., 2011 PDF: 438; Karaman, 2011b PDF: 48; Legakis, 2011 PDF: 12; Pfeiffer et al., 2011 PDF: 49; Borowiec & Salata, 2012 PDF: 526; Guénard & Dunn, 2012 PDF: 50; Kiran & Karaman, 2012 PDF: 23; Sarnat & Economo, 2012 PDF: 99; Wetterer, 2012e PDF: 51; Borowiec & Salata, 2013 PDF: 363; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332 (redescription); Hita Garcia et al., 2013 PDF: 214; Sarnat et al., 2013 PDF: 71; Borowiec, 2014 PDF: 142 (see note in bibliography); Ramage, 2014 PDF: 172; Tohmé & Tohmé, 2014 PDF: 135; Bezděčková et al., 2015 PDF: 120; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50 (redescription); Bharti et al., 2016 PDF: 42; Lebas et al., 2016: 332; Wetterer et al., 2016 PDF: 15; Deyrup, 2017: 90; Sharaf et al., 2018 10.20362/am.010004 PDF: 27; Dekoninck et al., 2019 PDF: 1157; Lubertazzi, 2019 10.3099/MCZ-43.1 PDF: 149.Senior synonym of Pheidole agilis: Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole picata bernhardae: Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 51.Senior synonym of Pheidole edax: Dalla Torre, 1892 PDF: 90; Emery, 1892c PDF: 160; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Emery, 1915i PDF: 235; Emery, 1921c PDF: 85; Wheeler, 1922: 812; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole picata gietleni: Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 51.Senior synonym of Pheidole janus: Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Forel, 1899b PDF: 76; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 66; Wheeler, 1922: 813; Smith, 1954c PDF: 4; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole laevigata (Smith, 1855): Roger, 1863b PDF: 30; Dours, 1873 PDF: 169; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 463; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Forel, 1899b PDF: 77; Ruzsky, 1905b: 650; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 66; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole laevigata Mayr, 1862: Roger, 1863b PDF: 30; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 463; Forel, 1891c PDF: 176; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Forel, 1899b PDF: 77; Ruzsky, 1905b: 650; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 66; Wheeler, 1922: 812; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 389; Donisthorpe, 1935 PDF: 633; Smith, 1954c PDF: 4; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 196; Naves, 1985 PDF: 64; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole perniciosa: Emery, 1915i PDF: 235; Emery, 1921c PDF: 85; Wheeler, 1922: 813; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 55; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole picata: Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 51.Senior synonym of Pheidole pusilla: Roger, 1863b PDF: 30; Dours, 1873 PDF: 169; André, 1874c: 204 (in list); Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 463; Forel, 1891c PDF: 176; Dalla Torre, 1892 PDF: 90; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Forel, 1895e PDF: 231; Forel, 1899b PDF: 76; Ruzsky, 1905b: 650; Wheeler, 1911g PDF: 169; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 66; Wheeler, 1922: 812; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 389; Donisthorpe, 1935 PDF: 633; Smith, 1954c PDF: 4; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 196; Naves, 1985 PDF: 64; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole megacephala scabrior: Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole suspiciosa: Donisthorpe, 1932c PDF: 455; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole testacea: Brown, 1981 PDF: 530; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 370; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 56; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 333; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.Senior synonym of Pheidole trinodis: Roger, 1863b PDF: 30; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 463; Forel, 1891c PDF: 176; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 92; Forel, 1899b PDF: 76; Ruzsky, 1905b: 650; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 65; Wheeler, 1922: 812; Bolton, 1995b: 325; Eguchi, 2001b PDF: 77; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 127; Eguchi, 2008 PDF: 55; Fischer & Fisher, 2013 PDF: 332; Sarnat et al., 2015 10.3897/zookeys.543.6050 PDF: 50.
