1922] 



The Mating of Diacamma 



203 



THE MATING OF DIACAMMA' 

 By W. M. Wheeler and J, W. Chapman. 



Diacamma is a very clearly defined genus of Ponerine ants 

 confined to India, Ceylon, Southern China, the Malay Archi- 

 pelago, New Guinea and the northeast corner of Australia. 

 The species were carefully monographed by Emery in 1897, 

 and a list of those known in 1911 was published by the same 

 author in the "Genera Insectorum". There are only thirteen 

 species, but one of them, the Indomalayan rugosum has some 25 

 subspecies and varieties. All the species have large black or 

 bronzy, more rarely beautifully metallic blue or green, workers 

 (Fig. 1), and pale yellow or yellowish red males (Fig. 2), with very 

 long antennae and the pygidium terminating in a curved spine. 



Fig. 1. Worker of Diacamma auslrale, dorsal and lateral view and black cocoon of same x4. 



iContribution from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, Harvard 

 University, No. 212. 



