570 
Psyche 
[Vol. 92 
Erect hairs more numerous than in C. texens. Propodeal dorsum 
clearly higher than dorsum of promesonotum, and in profile more 
inclined than in C. texens, C. gombaki, and C. overbecki. Dorsal 
part of propodeal profile convex, descending part nearly straight. 
Frontal area clearly delimited. 
Original description of female (Emery, 1901): darker than 
workers; sides, scutellum, propodeal dorsum, legs, and major part 
of gaster brown. Head and mesonotum opaque; pubescence very 
dense, in particular on gaster. Head trapezoidal, mandibles similar 
to those of workers; clypeus narrow with deep semicircular excision 
in the middle of the anterior margin, limited by protruding acute 
angles. Antennae strong, petiole similar to that of workers. Punc- 
tures on gaster weak and not elongated. Length 1 1 mm. Mentawei, 
Sipora. 
According to my own examination, C. exsectus females are larger 
than females of C. gombaki and C. texens. HW 2.5, HL 2.5, PW 2.3. 
Frontal carinae less divergent than those of C. texens and C. gom- 
baki females. Frontal area indistinctly delimited; mandibles reddish 
brown with black teeth; gaster shining. 
Comparison of Karavaievia Species 
The subgenus is characterized by morphological traits and possi- 
bly by behavioral characters, too. The common morphological 
traits include the subuniform size of workers, females and males, the 
shape of the head, the position of the eyes, the characteristic shape 
of frontal carinae, clypeus, mandibles, antennae and alitrunk. All 
known Karavaievia species originate from the Indo-Malayan area, 
in particular from Malaysia and Singapore. A possibly common 
behavior of all Karavaievia species is the weaving of silk nests on the 
undersides of leaves which, however, has only been investigated for 
C. texens and C. gombaki (Maschwitz et al., 1985). For C. over- 
becki, there is only the statement of Viehmeyer (1915) that Overbeck 
found workers and males in ‘carton nests’ on the underside of leaves. 
Nothing has become known so far, however, on the nest-building of 
C. dolichoderoides and C. exsectus. 
My examination of two workers and a male of C. texens and of 
two workers of C. gombaki showed no openings of metapleural 
glands. This is in accordance with the observations in all weaver 
ants studied by Holldobler and Engel-Siegel (1984). 
