MANN: ANTS OF THE UUITlSIl SOLOMON ISLANDS. 345 



rcticulatcly rugose and punctate between the rugae. Postpetiole more finely 

 sculptured. Caster smooth. 



rilosity long and abundant, erect on head and body, suberect on appendages. 



Color brownish yellow with the tip of gaster infuscated. 



]\Ialaita: Auki. 



Described from one worker. 



This species resembles nwllcutii Emery from New Guinea in general 

 structure and in the long and slender (>pinotal spines, but the latter 

 species has the petiole in profile much more narrowed above, the post- 

 petiole distinctly broader than long and broader than the petiole; 

 in salo)uo the postpetiole is not broader than long and the sculpture of 

 the bodv is ver\' different. 



72. Tetramorium melanogyna, sp. nov. 



]]^orkcr. Length 2.5 mm. 



Head longer than broad, about as broad in front as behind, with very feebly 

 convex sides and shallowly concave occipital border. Mandibles with three 

 strong teeth on apical half and three weak ones laterally. Clypeus evenly 

 convex, anterior border straight. Frontal carinae rather strong, little dive.'- 

 gent, extending nearly to occipital margins and bordering distinct, though 

 shallow scrobes. Antennal scapes extending about four fifths the distance to 

 occipital corners; first funicular joint as long as the three following joints 



Fig. 28. — Tetramorium melanogyna Mann. Worker. Lateral view of thorax and petiole. 



together, joints two to eight transverse; terminal joint a little longer than the 

 two preceding joints together. Eyes situated at middle of sides of head. 

 Thorax, seen from above, with subangulate humeri, constricted between meso- 

 and epinotum; in profile, with shallow mesoepinotal impression. Epinotal 

 spines nearly straight, longer than their distance apart at base, directed upward 

 and backward; episternal spines thick basally, with the apical half narrow and 

 the tips acute. Petiole with a distinct peduncle, a little longer than the node; 

 the node in profile as high as long and highest at posterior margin, with sloping 



