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15. — Pheidole confoedusta sp. nov. 

 Soldier. Length 4-4.5 mm. 



Head i-ather small, convex, as broad as long, with subparal- 

 lel sides, rounded posterior corners and rather shallow occipital 

 g-roove. Eyes moderate, convex, circular, distinctly in front of 

 the middle of the head. Mandibles with two large apical and se- 

 veral small basal teeth. Clypeus short, flattened, not carinate, 

 with a rather deep notch in the middle of the anterior border. 

 Frontal area impressed, triangular, decidedly broader than long, 

 rounded behind. Frontal carin«? very short. Antennal scapes al- 

 most or quite reaching the posterior corners of the head, curved 

 and distinctly dilated and flattened at their bases; funiculi slen- 

 der; joints 2-8 subequal, nearly twice as long as broad; club dis- 

 tinctly shorter than the remainder of the funiculus. Thorax ra- 

 ther slender, in front about half as broad as the head; humeri 

 rounded, not prominent; mesonotum with a feeble transverse de- 

 pression in the middle. Mesoepinotal constriction deep and broad; 

 epinotum with subequal base and declivity, the former feebly 

 convex, the latter concave and sloping up without an angle into 

 the base between the spines. Spines acute, shorter than their dis- 

 tance apart, longer than broad at their bases, directed upward 

 and slightly backward and outward. Petiole twice as long as it 

 is broad through its node, its peduncle with parallel sides; node 

 rather strongly compressed antero-posteriorly, with transverse 

 upper border, sinuately notched in the middle. Postpetiole a third 

 broader than the petiole, distinctly broader behind than in front, 

 with a very small and sometimes indistinct tubercle or projec- 

 tion on each side near the middle. Gaster broadly elliptical, smal- 

 ler than the head. Legs long and slender. 



Mandibles shining, coarsely and sparsely punctate, striate at 

 their bases. Clypeus and frontal area shining, the former longi- 

 tudinally rugose on the sides, more feebly and irregularly rugose 

 in the middle. Head nearly opaque, rather densely and finely re- 

 ticulate-rugose and punctate throughout. Antennal fovese lateral- 

 ly with concentric, region between frontal carinic with longitu- 

 dinal rug£e; floor of occipital groove crossed by numerous deli- 

 cate transverse ridges. Thorax, petiole and postpetiole nearly opa- 



