54 



rORMICID.t. 



Fig. 31. — Lobopclta, showing 

 pectinate claws. 



Genus LOBOPELTA. 



PoDt'i'a. pt., Sinitli. Jour. Limi. >Soc. ii (IH.")"), p. 07. 9 '■ Hof/ei; Bii'l. 



et.t. Zeit. V (1861), p. 15, $. 

 Lobopelta, Mcn/r. T'erh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xii (1802), ]). 7.'!3, ^. 



Type, L. dimimdcc, Smith, from the Indo-Malayan region. 

 Bant/c. Ethiopian. ludo-Malayau and Australian regions in the 

 Eastern, and tlie Neotropical region in tlie Western hemisphere. 



^ . AlUed to and closely resembling the genus Lejjtof/em/s, 

 Eoger. Head variable, in some species elongate-oval, in others 

 more or less rectangular, but generally (at least in the Indian 



species) longer than broad ; mandibles 

 long and linear, but less cylindrical 

 than in Lepioijenys, and al\Aays with 

 a distinct and generally toothed masti- 

 catory margin at apex ; clypeus narrow, 

 transverse, more decidedly triangularly 

 produced in the middle, in most of 

 the species conspicuously vertically ca- 

 rinate : antennal cai'inse and antennae 

 as in Lej>togen)/s ; eyes as a rule placed 

 slightly higher up and more to the 

 front, on the sides of the head. Thorax 

 similar, but with the meso-metanotal 

 suture more distinctly marked ; legs proportionately more slender, 

 claws pectinate. Pedicel one-jointed, node variable, squamiform 

 or cubical : abdomen as in Leptogenys. 



(S . Eesembles the ^ , but the head is smaller, subtriangular ; 

 the mandibles conspicuously short and pointed at apex ; thorax 

 more mnssiAe, the pronotum depressed, the mesonotum and 

 scutellum raised, the former with a Y-shaped impressed crenulate 

 mark, the latter separated from the mesonotum by a short, broad, 

 transverse furroA^- ; postscutellum and metanotum depressed, the 

 latter convex above. Pedicel one-jointed, the node conical, thick 

 at base ; abdomen similar to that of the ^ , the pygidium entire, 

 the hypopygium broadly emarginate at apex, cerci distinct. 

 Wings A\ith three cubital and one discoidal cell, the 3rd cubital 

 long and reaching to the margin of the wing. 5 . Unknown. 



The species of Lohopelta are credited with the ability to make 

 stridulatory sounds audible to the human ear. Wroughton (Jour. 

 Bomb. X. H. Soc. vii (1892), p. 27) records the following obser- 

 vation of Mr. Aitkin's : — " The roar raised by a squadron of 

 Lohopelta, if you poke at them with a straw, does not require to 

 be listened for with your hand to your ear." I have experimented 

 with and watched several species in nature, but personally I was 

 unable to hear any sound made by them. L. chineusis, L. hirmana, 

 and L.hitteli seem always to march in columns of four; while 

 L. hingliami and L. aspera I have only seen in single or double 

 file, and very often singly, wandering about foraging, like Dia- 

 camma. I can confirm Mr. Wroughton's observations as to the 

 termitophagous habits of this genus. 



