On Mauritius, which seems to be its western distribution limit, this ant was found in the leaf litter of lowland rainforest (200 m elevation).

Considering that the ecosystems of the Mauritius islands have been severely altered and disturbed since the arrival of human settlers several hundred years ago, and native species must also contend with the invasions of introduced organisms, parts of the original ant fauna might have been marginalized or driven to extinction long ago.

Nevertheless, efforts to further investigate the presence and activity of introduced Pheidole species are worthwhile, especially in the few remaining undisturbed habitats.

Morphologically the minor workers are best separated by coarse, mostly suberect scape pilosity, impressed metanotal groove, relatively smaller eyes and shorter spines in P. fervens versus decumbent to subdecumbent scape pilosity with longer suberect hairs along outer edge, inconspicuous metanotal groove in profile, and larger eyes and longer spines in P. teneriffana.

[1] R* This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: *Fischer, G.; Fisher, B.L.