the Mediterranean and western Asia, with introduced populations including Australia
Fine-art photographic collection
Pheidole pallidula
A tiny ant society divided between ordinary workers and enormous-headed soldiers that can become living food tanks.
About this species
Pheidole pallidula(Nylander, 1849)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Pheidole pallidula is a Mediterranean big-headed ant introduced to several regions outside its native range. Colonies contain small minor workers and much larger majors, and reproductive organisation can include more than one queen.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Formicidae · Pheidole
Accepted taxon; the Australian gallery locality represents an introduced population. · checked 2026-07-15
the Mediterranean and western Asia, with introduced populations including AustraliaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Warm open ground, gardens, pavements, fields and disturbed habitats.
Forages in warm conditions and can recruit rapidly to food.
Seeds, insects, carrion and sugary liquids.
Social; colonies contain sharply dimorphic minors and majors and may be polygynous.
What makes this species remarkable?
Major workers develop heads many times bulkier than those of minors, creating two dramatically different body plans inside one colony.
Some majors swell their gasters with liquid food and function as temporary repletes — living storage vessels that feed nestmates later.
Genetic and morphological work showed that the old pallidula name had hidden several cryptic European species that look extremely similar.
More photographs
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