Vol. 63 
PSYCHE 
No. 2 
June, 1956 
A NEW SPECIES OF MYRMOTERAS FROM CEYLON 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) 1 
By Robert E. Gregg 
Department of Biology, University of Colorado 
Several specimens of a new ant belonging to the genus 
Myrmoteras were collected recently on the Island of 
Ceylon by Dr. Edward 0. Wilson, and were sent to me for 
study and description. 
Myrmoteras ceylonica sp. nov. 
Fig. 1 
Worker: Length, 3.09 mm.; head length (excluding 
mandibles), 0.90 mm.; head index, 0.94; thorax length, 
1.17 mm. 
The head of this species is heavily granulate, except for 
the shining occiput, occipital flange, and gula, and recalls 
the condition of M. williamsi, but unlike the latter species 
in which the cephalic furrow is marked, ceylonica shows 
no more than an elusive trace of this furrow. In certain 
lights, a narrow, median line of reduced and more widely 
spaced granules permits the area to shine and thus give a 
faint resemblance to the groove of other species such as 
binghami, donisthorpei, williamsi, or karnyi. M. ceylonica, 
therefore, belongs in that subdivision of the genus in which 
the head does not possess a median longitudinal furrow, 
or in which such a furrow is short and indistinct or nearly 
obsolete. Previously, only three species were found in 
this group, namely, mjoebergi, kemneri, and barbouri. 
The new species may be distinguished at once from 
mjoebergi (3-5.6 mm.) by its smaller size (3.09 mm.) and 
1 Published with a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
at Harvard College. 
41 
