ipoS-] 



Wheeler, Ants of the Genus Liometopum. 



2,^2> 



and epinotum are of about the same length, the mesonotum somewhat shorter. 

 Petiole produced upward into a sharp point which in some specimens may be 

 prolonged into a soft spine ; in profile inclined forward and more or less flattened 

 or even concave both on the anterior and posterior surfaces. Gaster large, 

 elongate elliptical, its anterior segment more or less completely concealing the 

 petiole. Legs rather slender. 



Mandibles shining, coarsely punctate towards their tips, finely and densely 

 punctate towards their bases. Body subopaque; clypeus, head, and often also 

 the thorax shining ; 

 finely but distinctly 

 reticulate or coria- 

 ceous, as are also the 

 appendages. 



Body and append- 

 ages clothed with gray 

 pubescence, so long 

 and dense on the 

 gaster as to hide the 

 smooth ground sur- 

 face. On the first, 

 second, and third seg- 

 ments it is parted at 

 or diverges on either 

 side of the mid-dorsal 

 line in such a manner 

 as to give the gaster 

 a shifting silky lustre 

 somewhat like that 

 seen on the abdomens 

 of certain Diptera 

 {Sarcophaga e. g.). 

 Hairs gray, long, and 



sub-erect, especially on the head, upper surfaces of the thorax and gaster, and on 

 the legs ; short and inconspicuous on the antennal scapes. 



Body dark brown or black, with the mandibles, sides of the clypeus, cheeks, 

 and more or less of the thorax, legs, and antenna reddish yellow or light brown; 

 the amount and distribution of the light color varying considerably even in 

 workers of the same colony. Mandibular teeth black. 



Fig. I. a, Liometopum apiculatum Mayr. Worker; ^, petiole of 

 same seen from behind; c, petiole of female; d, L. microcephalum 

 Panzer, Worker ; f , petiole of same. 



Female (Fig. i, c). — Length 12-13 mm. 



Apart from the much larger size and the usual sexual characters, the female 

 differs from the worker in being black in color, in having darker mandibles, 

 clypeal corners, legs, and antenna?, and in the arrangement of the gastric pubes- 

 cence which is not parted and divergent but straight and uniform. The erect 

 hairs are proportionally shorter, but denser and more abundant than in the 

 worker. Wings long (18 mm.), brownish hyaline, with brown veins and black 

 stigma. Petiole high and lyrate when seen from behind, with a deep notch in 

 the summit, so that it appears to be prolonged at the apex into two slightly 

 diverging points. 



