1919] Wheeler — The Ant Geims Lordomyrma Emery 97 



THE ANT GENUS LORDOMYRMA EMERY.i 



By William Morton Wheeler. 



Lordomyrma is one of the few ant genera, XWieLeptomyrmex and 

 Opisthopsis, which are confined to the Papuan and Australian 

 regions. Although Emery established it as long ago as 1897 on 

 Podomyrma caledonica Ern. Andre from New Caledonia and two 

 species from German New Guinea, only a variety has since been 

 added to the genus. It evidently comprises, however, two unde- 

 scribed species in my collection, one taken by Mr. A. M. Lea of 

 the Museum of South Australia on Lord Howe Island, off the coast 

 of New South Wales and the other taken by myself in Queensland. 

 Of the three species recognized by Emery only the worker is known. 

 I have seen the male of the species from Lord Howe Island, but 

 the females of all the forms still remain to be discovered. They 

 are probably very similar to the female of Podomyrma and but 

 slightly larger than the worker. I append descriptions of the 

 genus and of the five known species, together with a table for their 

 identification. 



Lordomyrma Emery, 

 Emery, Termeszetr. Fuzetek, 20, 1897, p. 591. S . 



Worker. Small, monomorphic. Eyes small, elongate, rather 

 flat, just in front of the middle of the head; ocelli absent. Mandi- 

 bles triangular, with 3-4 apical and numerous small basal teeth. 

 Clypeus well-developed, elevated in the middle behind, bicarinate, 

 at least in most species, with entire anterior border, sinuate on the 

 sides. Frontal area distinct, impressed; frontal groove absent. 

 Frontal carinse prolonged backward nearly to the posterior corners 

 of the head as diverging ridge-like internal borders for flattened 

 antennal scrobes, which are differently sculptured from the re- 

 mainder of the head and bordered externally by a longitudinal 

 ruga or cannula. Antennae 12-jointed; funiculi with a distinct 

 3-jointed club as long as or longer than the remaining joints to- 

 gether. Thorax rather long and narrow, broadest through the 

 pronotum, the humeri of which are dentate or sharply angular. 

 There is no promesonotal suture, the dorsal surface of the two seg- 

 ments being rounded and convex. Mesoepinotal suture very 



1 Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University. No. 158. 



