PSYCHE 
VOL. XLV DECEMBER, 1938 No. 4 
ARE ANT LARVAE APODOUS? 
By George C. Wheeler 
University of North Dakota 
Imms 1 states that “in all the higher Hymenoptera the 
prevalent larval type is apodous.” Practically, of course, 
this is true of ant larvae. But what is one to say of the pairs 
of small structures found near the posterior border of the 
ventral surface of each thoracic segment? 
A study of the larvae of some four hundred species of ants 
in 130 genera representing all of the subfamilies has con- 
vinced me such structures are of general occurrence through- 
out the Family Formicidae. They are to be found in the 
subfamilies Dorylinae, Cerapachyinae, Ponerinae, Myrmicinae, 
Dolichoderinae, and Formicinae. I have not found them in 
the Pseudomyrminae, but this may be due to the fact that 
the ventral surface of the thorax is so complicated by 
exudatoria and by the trophothylax that a small linear 
structure might easily be concealed or confused with a 
wrinkle in preserved material. The solution of the problem 
requires living specimens. I have not searched for the 
structures in the Leptanillinae, partly because the larvae are 
so minute and partly because my material is so scarce that 
I dare not risk any of it at this stage of my study of ant 
larvae. 
In the literature on ant larvae I have found no mention of 
these structures. Imms 1 says that “vestiges, in the form of 
papillae, of what appear to be the remains of thoracic appen- 
dages have been detected in Polysphincta and certain other 
Hmms, A. D. 1937. Recent advances in entomology (2 ed.). Phila- 
delphia: P. Blakiston’s Son and Company, Inc., p. 60. 
