NEW SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN ANTS 9 



with termites, and it is a well known fact that Iridomyrmex and 

 many Formicina3 attack termites once they discover a broken 

 termite nest, but systematic raiding by individual ants appears to 

 be something new. 



" Family FORMICIDAE Latreille, 1810 

 Subfamily Formicinae Lepeletier, 1836 

 Tribe Melophorini Forel, 1912 

 Genus PROLASIUS Forel, 1892 



Genus PROLASIUS Florel, Mitt. Schweitz. Ent. Ges. 8. p. 332, 



1892. 



Formica (part) Smith Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., I., p. 53, 1862. 

 Prenolepis (part) Mayr Verb. Zool. Bot, Ges Wien., 36, p. 362, 1886. 

 Lasius subgen. Prolasius Forel Mitt. Scheitz. Ent. Ges., 8, p. 332, 1892. 

 Melophorus subgen. Lasiophanes Emery Act. Soc. Se. Chili, p. 16, 1895. 

 Prolasius Wheeler Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 45, p. 695, 1922. 

 Melophorus subgen. Prolasius Emery Genera Insect, t'asc. 183, p. 13, 1925. 

 Prolasius Clark Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., 8, p. 66, 1934. 



Worker: small and monomorphic. Head subrectangular with sides more or 

 less convex. Mandibles with the masticatory edge furnished with five or six 

 small but distinct teeth; the tips of the terminal edge do not cross as they do 

 on Pseudolasius. Frontal carina? short and straight. The antennal groove does 

 not merge completely with the el g peal groove. Antennae of twelve segments 

 with the funiculus filiform. Frontal area distinct. Eyes moderately large. 

 Ocelli always present. Thorax more or less constricted at the mesonotal region, 

 and both sutures are distinct. Epinotum more or less convex above and quite 

 unarmed. Node perpendicular, not sloping. Gaster oval. Legs usually slender. 



Female and male distinguished by the same characters as in the worker. The 

 wings have a closed radial cell without a discoidal cell. In the male the outer 

 genital plates are triangular, but very much narrower towards the tip, the 

 middle plates have a short blunt outer, and a long hook-shaped inner process. 



Pupae enclosed in cocoons. 



Type Prolasius advena Smith. 



KEY TO SPECIES 

 A. Uniformly light brown. 

 Clypeus carinated. 



1. Declivity of epinohvm twice as long as the dorsum 



P. advena Smith. 



2. Declivity of epinotum three times as long as the dorsum 



P. hellenae new sp. 



3. Declivity of epinotum slightly longer than the dorsum 



P. antennata new sp. 

 Clypeus not carinated. 



4. Anterior border of clypeus rounded and the declivity of the 

 epinotum twice as long as the dorsum 



P. zealandiea Smith. 



5. Anterior border of clypeus rounded and the declivity of the epinotum 

 one quarter longer than the dorsum 



P. convexa new sp. 



6. Anterior border of clypeus produced to a blunt point and the first 

 segment of the funiculus as long as the three following 



P. clarki new sp. 



