A NEW GENUS OF PONERINE ANTS 
FROM WEST AFRICA 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) WITH 
ECOLOGICAL NOTES 
By William L. Brown, Jr. 1 , William H. Gotwald, Jr. 2 , 
and Jean Levieux 3 
During work in recent years in the Ivory Coast, one of us (Jean 
Levieux) has collected 4 colonies and colony-fragments of an extra- 
ordinary small ponerine ant belonging to a new genus apparently 
related to Amblyopone , but having the petiole separated from the 
postpetiole by a deep vertical constriction. The formal description 
of this genus and species is offered below. 
The characterization is greatly enhanced by scanning electron 
micrographs (Plates I, II) taken by Prof. Howard E. Hinton of 
the University of Bristol, England, for whose generosity we are 
most grateful. 
Apomyrma genus nov. 
Worker: Habitus in life and to the naked eye much that of a 
very small, slender, shining Amblyopone . Also reminiscent of 
Leptanilla . 
Head oblong, depressed, parallel-sided, with rounded corners (like 
that of many female pristocerine Bethylidae), anterior corners of 
head unarmed. Eyes and ocelli lacking. Antennae 12-segmented, 
scapes very short and clavate, funiculus robust, with an indistinct 
4-merous club. Antennal sockets round, impressed, completely ex- 
posed, the frontal carinae extremely reduced and indistinguishably 
fused with the reduced median portion of the clypeus to produce a 
small, subtriangular tumulus or convex platform that trails a brief 
septum posteriad scarcely beyond the level of the posterior socket 
department of Entomology, New York State College of Agriculture at 
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA. 
department of Biology, Utica College of Syracuse University, Utica, New 
York 13502, USA. 
3 Laboratoire de Zoologie, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris V, France. 
Research and publication aided by grants nos. 5574X and 24822 from the 
U. S. National Science Foundation to William L. Brown, Jr., principal 
investigator. Research of Jean Levieux supported in large part by the 
Centre National de Recherche Scientifique de France. 
Manuscript received by the editor November 2, 1970. 
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