There seems to be a problem with how current versions of OS X store the mysql socket and how [phpMyAdmin][1] looks for it. It seems currently the socket is stored at `/tmp/mysql.sock` but phpMyAdmin is looking for it at `/var/mysql/mysql.sock`. The result is a connection error type #2002.
After a lot of Googling here’s the solution. Create a symlink. Do the following from the terminal.
sudo mkdir /var/mysql
sudo ln -s /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock
Now phpMyAdmin will connect to your local MySQL installation.
[1]: http://www.phpmyadmin.net