PUIDOLE, 249 



posteriorly, tlie mesonotiiui densely longitiidin;illy striate, the 

 metandlal spines are longer and more slender than in F. wrougJUoni ; 

 2nd node of the pedicel very broad and transversely scidptured, 

 opaque. 



Length, 1/ 4-5-5 ; ^ 2-5-3 ; ? 8 mm. 



Ilab. Recorded so far only from the Nilgiris ( Wroughton). 

 S])efimens, also from the jNilgiris, very much darker, ahno.st I)lack, 

 have been separated as \ar. iiigr/( by JJr. Forel. 



282. Phidole rugnsa, Smil/i, Cat. vi (18."58) p. JTo; Forel, liev. Suisse 

 Zool. X (U)Oi'), pp. 177 & 194, 1/ ; id. Jour. Bomb. N. II. Soc. 

 xiv (1902), pp. o32 & r^A. 



1/. Head, thorax and pedicel castaneous red; abdomen dark 

 brown, nearly black, with the apical martijins of the segments 

 reddish yellow ; pilosity pale yellowish, short but abundant. Head, 

 thorax and abdomen didl and opaque, the front of the head 

 anteriorly and the iiietanotura coarsely sti-iate, the stria; on the 

 head posteriorly breaking into coarse reticulations ; thorax more 

 finely punctured and reticulate, abdomen finely and somewhat 

 slightly longitudinally striate. Head and abdomen exceedingly 

 larji;e, globose, the former constricted in front, ver}^ wide posteriorly, 

 the occipital emargination pioportioriately shallow and slight, the 

 lateral lobes very large, rounded and convex above ; mandibles 

 smooth, sparsely finely punctured ; clypeus medially emarginate, 

 and with a medial Aertical shoi't and somewhat thick carina ; 

 antennae very short ; the scape, flattened and laterally margined on 

 the upper side, falls short of the top of the head by about its own 

 length, antennal grooves divergent, rather narrow and shallow. 

 Thorax narrow in proportion to the very large and massive head 

 and abdomen ; pronotum and mesonotum rounded, convex, the 

 transverse groove and ridge on the latter A-ery slight ; metanotum 

 cubical, the basal portion flat, margined on the sides and broadening 

 posteriorly ; the iiietanotal spines comparatively short, erect and 

 acute. Pedicel : the 1st node squaniifonn, deeply emarginate above, 

 almost bidentate, beneath with a translucid laminate and rounded 

 lobe; 2nd node much wider than the 1st, transversely fusiform 

 and coarsely reticulate-punctate above; abdomen massive, very 

 convex, above as broad as long, and as long as the thorax and 

 pedicel united. 



^. Shining yellowish brown all over; pilosity sparse, smooth 

 except on the meso- and metanotum, which are somewhat closely 

 and dehcately punctured. Head bx-oadly oval, eyes prominent, 

 occiput rounded and convex; mandibles with the basal half flat and 

 narrow, suddetdy broadeuing towards the masticatory margin ; 

 antennte long, comparatively slender, the scape pa-!sing beyond the 

 top of the head by nearly half its l(;ugth. Thorax elongate, the 

 pronotum raised and convex; the meso- and metanotum oblique, 

 the transverse furrow on the former wide, ni'arly obsolete, the 

 metanotum unarmed. Pedicel moderately long ; the 1st node 



