1940] 
Rare Ponerine Genera 
75 
RARE PONERINE GENERA IN PANAMA AND 
BRITISH GUIANA (HYM.: FORMICID.®) 
By Neal A. Weber 
University of North Dakota 
The genus Probolomyrmex was erected by Mayr in 1901 
(Ann. k. naturhist. Hofmus. Wien, 16:2) for a specimen of 
a strange ponerine ant from South Africa which had the 
clypeus fused with the frontal carinse and produced as a 
peculiar lobe over the mandibles. He described this as 
P. filiformis. No other specimens were known until the 
report by Santschi in 1914 (Bull. Lab. Zool. Gen. Agrar. 
Portici, 8:312) of a second specimen of the species from 
French Guinea. In 1923 Dr. Mann ( Psyche , 30 : 16-18, Fig. 
2) described a third specimen, a dealate female from Bolivia, 
as a new species, P. boliviensis, which was “the first case in 
its subfamily of a South African and South American rela- 
tionship. ’’ In 1928 Dr. Wheeler ( Psyche , 35: 7-9, Fig. 1) 
described a third species (P. dammermani) from Java. 
Described below is a fourth species, P. petiolatus, based on 
a worker that I took on Barro Colorado Island, Panama 
Canal Zone which adds Central America to the distribution 
of this rare genus. 
The genus Discothyrea is another example of a rare and 
odd genus of minute ponerine ants but with a more exten- 
sive distribution which has been recently summarized and 
the New World species have been keyed (Weber, 1939). 
D. isthmica, described below, is an additional species from 
Barro Colorado Island taken by Mr. E. C. Williams, Jr. 
Two species are now known from this remarkably rich island 
since I found another species (D. humilis) in the month 
preceding Mr. Williams’ discovery. In no other country in 
the New World is more than one species known. 
The genus Sysphincta includes a few species of sluggish 
and seldom seen ants found in the Mediterranean region 
and Japan; one species occurs in South America, two in 
