118 



William Morton Wheeler 



resembles that of the worker, the hairs on the head, thorax and gaster 

 being long, erect and coarse, and by the shape of the petiole, the node 

 of which is inclined forward as in the worker. The male P. henscJiei 

 can be distinguished by this latter character and the absence of the 

 discal cell of the fore wing from the otherwise very similar male of 

 Lasius schiefferdeckeri. 



I believe that I have found the female of P. henschei. It measures 

 3,5 mm in length and has the coarse pilosity of the worker, although 

 the hairs are shorter, especially on the gaster. The petiole is shaped 



like that of the worker 

 and the wings, which have 

 the same neuration as 

 those of the male, are 

 brownish, while the body 

 is dark brown or black 

 as in the females of many 

 of the recent species. 



P. henschei is one 

 of the commonest ants 

 in the amber. Mayr 

 examined 69 specimens, 

 Ern. Andre 18. Besides 

 32 of the 36 specimens, 

 including the single andro- 

 type, recorded by Mayr as 

 preserved in the Geolog. 

 Inst. Koenigsberg Coll., 

 I have examined 524 spe- 

 cimens. These are distrib- 

 uted as follows: 398 

 workers, 17 males, 10 fe- 

 males and one pseudo- 

 gyne in the Geolog, Inst. 

 Koenigsberg Coll. (XXB 

 38, B 18 720, B 19338, 

 B 18742, XXB 877, XXB 

 763, XXB 1351, B 18689, 

 XXB 1082, B 19127, B 19 392, B 18 494, XXB 252, 10309/657, B 18 643, 

 XXB 1572, 10249/642, XXB 1455, XIIIB 904, XXB 5202 etc.), 

 71 workers, 6 males and one pseudogyne in the Klebs Coll. (K 2653, 

 K 2640, K 881, K 851, K 4043, K 2615, K 4247, K 922, « 1, K 872, 



Fig. 57. Prenolepis henschei Mayr. 

 a) normal worker, K2647; b) pseudogyne, K 868. 



