54 



Genus LOBOPELTA. 



Ponera, pt., Smith. Jour. Linn. Soc. ii (18o7), p. 67, $ ; Roger, Berl. 



eat. Zeit. v (1861), p. 15, . 

 Lobopelta, Mayr, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xii (1862), p. 733, 9 . 



Type, L. diminuta, Smith, from the Indo-Malayan region. 

 Eant/e. Ethiopian, lode-Malayan and Australian regions in the 

 Eastern, and the Neotropical region in the Western hemisphere. 



. Allied to and closely resembling the genus Leptoyenys, 

 Eoger. Head variable, in some species elongate-oval, in others 

 more or less rectangular, but generally (at least in the Indian 

 species) longer than broad ; mandibles 

 long and linear, but less cylindrical 

 than in Leptoyenys, and always with 

 a distinct and generally toothed masti- 

 catory margin at apex ; clypeus narrow, 

 transverse, more decidedly triangularly 

 produced in the middle, in most of 

 the species conspicuously vertically ca- 

 rinate ; antennal carinae and antennae 

 as in Leptoyenys ; eyes as a rule placed 

 Fig. 31.-Lopelta. showing fgh% higher up and more to the 

 pectinate claws. front, on the sides of the head. Thorax 



similar, but with the meso-metauotal 



suture more distinctly marked ; legs proportionately more slender, 

 claws pectinate. Pedicel one-jointed, node variable, squamiform 

 or cubical : abdomen as in Leptogenys. 



d" . Eesembles the , but the head is smaller, subtriangular ; 

 the mandibles conspicuously short and pointed at apex; thorax 

 more massive, the pronotum depressed, the mesonotum and 

 scutellum raised, the former with a Y-shaped impressed crenulate 

 mark, the latter separated from the mesonotum by a short, broad, 

 transverse furrow ; postscutellum and metanotum depressed, the 

 latter convex above. Pedicel one-jointed, the node conical, thick 

 at base ; abdomen similar to that of the , the pygidium entire, 

 the hypopygium broadly emarginate at apex, cerci distinct. 

 "Wings Avith three cubital and one discoidal cell, the 3rd cubital 

 long and reaching to the margin of the wing. $ . Unknown. 



The species of Lobopelta are credited with the ability to make 

 stridulatory sounds audible to the human ear. Wroughton (Jour. 

 Bomb. N. H. Soc. vii (1892), p. 27) records the following obser- 

 vation of Mr. Aitkin's: "The roar raised by a squadron of 

 Lobopelta, if you poke at them with a straw, does not require to 

 be listened for with your hand to your ear." I have experimented 

 with and watched several species in nature, but personally I was 

 unable to hear any sound made by them. L. chinensis, L. birmana, 

 and L. Tcitteli seem always to march in columns of four; while 

 L. binghami and L. aspera I have only seen in single or double 

 file, and very often singly, wandering about foraging, like Dia- 

 camma. I can confirm Mr. Wroughton's observations as to the 

 termitophagous habits of this genus. 



