THE LARVA OF DINOPONERA 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE: PONERINAE) 
By George C. Wheeler and Jeanette Wheeler* 
Adjunct Research Associates, 
Desert Research Institute 
Reno, Nevada 
In the Genera Insectorum Emery ends his account of the genus 
Dinoponera laconically thus: “C’est le geant des Formicides.” Zahl 
(1959) referred to Dinoponera gigantea as “the world’s largest ant” 
and embroidered his account with excellent photographs of eggs, 
larvae, cocoons, a male and workers; there are no queens in this 
genus. Kempf in his 1971 revision of the genus gives the length of the 
worker of this species as “30 mm and over.” 
The generic name is derived from the Greek deinos terrible, fear- 
ful, and the generic name Ponera. After reading Zahl’s 1939 and 
1959 articles we readily agree that the name is most appropriate 
because of the large size, the prominent toothed mandibles, the 
black color and the potent sting. 
The range of the genus is almost limited to Brazil, but it does spill 
over into adjacent Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. 
Our description (1952:607) of the genus and D. mutica were 
based on one tattered integument (probably of Mann’s [1916:409] 
larva) and an unlabeled photograph. The latter was probably made 
by Mann and used as the basis for his description and drawing 
(1916: PI. 7, Fig. 55) of an “immature (?) larva 13 mm long.” Our 
Fig. 4 (1952: PI. II) is a reconstruction. 
The larva of the world’s largest ant certainly deserves better 
treatment than we were able to give it at that time but are now able 
to render it, thanks to the kindness of Dr. William Overal in Belem, 
Para. He supplied us with eggs, larvae of 4 sizes, pupae, cocoons 
and workers of D. gigantea. 
♦Address for correspondence: 3358 NE 58th Avenue, Silver Springs, Florida 32688 
Manuscript received by the editor July 22. 1985 
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