wheeler: the ants of Borneo. 133 



*227. POLYRHACHIS (MyRMHOPLa) DAPHNE, Sp. nov. 



Worker. Length: 5.5-6 mm. 



Head a little longer than broad, a little broader at the eyes than at the 

 anterior corners, semicircularly rounded behind, with rather straight sides and 

 cheeks ; in profile very convex in the region of the frontal carinae, with feebly 

 convex gular surface. Eyes large and convex, their anterior orbits at the 

 median transverse diameter of the head. Palpi long and slender. Mandibles 

 moderately convex, with four stout, subequal teeth. Clj^peus semicircular, 

 convex, ecarinate; its anterior border very feebly sinuate on each side of the 

 middle which does not project as a lobe. Clypeal fossa very pronounced. 

 Frontal area indistinct, triangular. Frontal carinae approximated, sinuate, 

 erect, not further apart behind than in front. Antennae long, their scapes 

 extending fully half their length beyond the occipital border of the head. 

 Thorax subcylindrical, narrower than the head, a little broader through the 

 posterior part of the pronotum than through the meso- and epinotum which 

 are of equal width; pro- and mesoepinotal sutures very distinct and strongly 

 impressed. Pronotum, excluding the neck, a little broader than long, rounded 

 on the sides, with two stout, straight, acute spines which are twice as long as 

 the width of their bases and directed forward and outward. Mesonotum as 

 long as broad, its anterior outline semicircular, its lateral and posterior borders 

 straight, the sides not marginate. Epinotum compressed above, the base 

 horizontal and slightly concave, oblong, strongly marginate on the sides, the 

 marginations continued into the spines which are stout, straight, acute, twice 

 as long as those on the pronotum and as long as the base of the epinotum, 

 laterally compressed, and directed backward and very slightly upward. The 

 epinotal declivity is abrupt, slightly concave in profile, not marginate on the 

 sides, with large, prominent stigmata. Petiole subcuboidal with a denticle 

 on each side below near the anterior border and above with two stout, com- 

 pressed, curved spines, a little longer than those on the epinotum and directed 

 outward and backward. The distance between their tips is less than half the 

 diameter of the first gasti'ic segment. Gaster large, broadly elliptical, less 

 than half of it formed by the first segment, sUghtly flattened dorsoventrally, 

 convex but not truncated in front. Legs long; tibiae cylindrical, slightly 

 constricted at the base, without bristles on their flexor surfaces. 



Mandibles and clypeus smooth and shining, the former minutely and sparsely 

 punctate; head shining above, subopaque on the sides; shagreened, the vertex 

 and sides of the front sparsely punctate. Thorax and petiole opaque; sides 

 of the former densely and evenly punctate, the dorsum very finely punctate- 

 rugulose, the rugules on the mesonotum obscurely concentric, the base of the 

 epinotum, especially behind, smooth and shining. Petiole indistinctly 

 punctate, slightly shining between the insertions of the spines. Gaster shin- 

 ing, very finely and superficially shagreened or aciculate, with small, sparse 

 punctures; legs more opaque and more coarsely shagreened. 



