150 
Psyche 
[June 
NEW FORMS OF ODONTOPONERA TRANSVERSA 
By Wm. S. Creighton 
Odontoponera was first recognized as a distinct genus 
in 1862 when Mayr raised to generic rank an ant described 
a year earlier by Frederick Smith as Ponera denticulata. 
This insect was later found to be identical with Smith’s 
Ponera transversa described in 1857. The name denticulata 
was, therefore, replaced by transversa. Although the single 
species by which this genus is represented is fairly abun- 
dant and distributed throughout many of the islands of the 
East Indies and the adjacent portions of the continent, little 
attention has been paid to its variations. Wheeler and Chap- 
man in 1925 described biconcentrica, a variety from the 
Philippines but except for this no other form has been 
noted. Dr. W. M. Wheeler has kindly permitted me to ex- 
amine the Odontoponera material in his collection and I 
find that it is possible to recognize two additional variants. 
One of these is plainly of subspecific rank while the other 
appears to be a color variety of the typical transversa. 
Biconcentrica must, I believe, be raised from varietal to 
subspecific status. 
The shape and the sculpture of the node of the petiole 
which appear at first sight to offer striking characters for 
separation are quite valueless in this regard. In a series 
of workers from a single nest the petiole may be narrow 
with a deeply notched summit and heavy rugae on the basal 
half or relatively broad with the notch and rugae reduced or 
absent. The same is true to a lesser degree of the sculpture 
of the pronotum. This usually consists of more or less pa- 
rallel, heavy, transverse rugae. Occasionally, however, one 
or two workers in a series have the posterior pronotal rugae 
twisted into two whorl-like configurations. As may be recal- 
led this characteristic formed the basis for the recognition 
iContributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey 
Institution, Harvard University, No. 315. 
