Pheidole navigans

{{Short description|Species of ant}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Pheidole navigans casent0005742 profile 1.jpg

| genus = Pheidole

| species = navigans

| authority = Forel, 1901

}}

Pheidole navigans, also called the navigating big-headed ant or the wandering big-headed ant, is a species of big-headed ant of the Pheidole flavens-complex native to Venezuela and Colombia and invasive in California, Bermuda, Germany, Mexico, the Canary Islands, the southeastern United States, and Hawaii. It is commonly misidentified as Pheidole moerens.{{cite web |last1=Bolton |first1=Barry |title=Pheidole navigans Forel, 1901 valid |url=https://antcat.org/catalog/444171 |website=AntCat |publisher=antcat.org |access-date=19 December 2024 |ref=antcat1}}{{cite web |last1=Economo |first1=Evan |last2=Guénard |first2=Benoit |title=antmaps.org Pheidole navigans |url=https://antmaps.org/?mode=species&species=Pheidole.navigans |website=antmaps.org |publisher=Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology |access-date=19 December 2024 |ref=antmaps1}} They are a small, short-limbed species, with minor workers reaching {{convert|2.0|mm|in}}, major workers {{convert|2.4|mm|in}}, males {{convert|2.8|mm|in}}, and queens {{convert|3.5|mm|in}} in total body length.{{cite web |title=Species: Pheidole navigans Forel, 1901 |url=https://www.antweb.org/images.do?species=navigans&genus=pheidole&rank=species |website=AntWeb |publisher=California Academy of Sciences |access-date=30 May 2025 |ref=antweb1}}{{cite web |last1=Shattuck |first1=Steven O. |title=Pheidole navigans |url=https://antwiki.org/wiki/Pheidole_navigans |website=AntWiki |publisher=antwiki.org |access-date=30 May 2025 |ref=antwiki1}} In Florida, they are rather common and nest in various microhabitats, including in rotten wood, hollow twigs, nuts, leaf littler, and occasionally arboreally. They are rather generalist and sustain on a wide variety of foods, from small arthropods to human foods. However, they are not reported to be major house pests and were first recorded in Florida in 1975.{{cite journal |last1=Deyrup |first1=Mark |last2=Davis |first2=Lloyd |last3=Cover |first3=Stefan |display-authors=1 |title=Exotic Ants in Florida |journal=Transactions of the American Entomological Society |date=2000 |volume=126 |issue=3+4 |pages=293-326 |url=https://antcat.org/references/131080 |access-date=30 May 2025 |ref=deyrupetal2000}}

File:Pheidole navigans casent0005743 profile 1.jpg