A NEW ANT OF THE GENUS EPITRITUS 
FROM SOUTH OF THE SAHARA* 
By William L. Brown, Jr. 
Department of Entomology, Cornell University 
Recently Mr. G. E. J. Nixon, of the Commonwealth Institute of 
Entomology in London, sent me a small series of a curious ant that 
he had recognized as an aberrant and possibly undescribed species of 
tribe Dacetini. Upon receiving the specimens, 1 found that the sample 
represented a new Epitritus , the first member of the genus from Ethio- 
pian Africa, and the first to be found in the tropics. I am grateful to 
Mr. NiXon for making available this most interesting new species. 
Epitritus laticeps sp. nov. 
Figures 1-4 
Holotype worker: TL 2.2, HL 0.47, HW 0.58 (Cl 123), ML 
0.22 (MI 47), WL 0.49, scape L 0.29, funiculus L 0.43 mm, of 
which about half is taken up by the apical segment. Measurements 
and proportions are those standard in my other dacetine studies (see 
Brown, 1953, Amer. Midi. Nat. 50: cf. pp. 7-15). 
Shape of head, body and mandibles as shown in Figs. 1-4. Especially 
characteristic of the known species of Epitritus and (judging from two 
occipital lobes (which make the head distinctly broader than long) ; 
the wide, basally lobiform antennal scapes; the large, conical labial 
lobes; the 4 long straplike clypeal hairs and the peculiar mandibles, 
lacking a long, spiniform dorsal “apical” tooth and with only a single 
preapical tooth. The apex of the mandible is of the “inverted” type 
characteristic of the known species of Epitritus and (judging from two 
paratype workers of which the mandibles were opened) has 7 or 8 
denticles, of which one or two in the middle are round-edged, and the 
rest are acute. The basal lamella is small, with acutely rounded apex 
(Fig. 3), and the ventro-medial margin below it is obtusely denticulate 
or angulate (not shown in figures) . Eyes minute, with only 4-6 facets. 
Antennal funiculus clearly 5-segmented. 
Promesonotum seen from above broadly oval, almost circular, nar- 
rowest behind, where it is terminated by the fine but distinct metanotal 
groove, which crosses just behind the highest point of the swollen 
mesonotum. Propodeum much narrower than pronotum, with high, 
* Manuscript received by the editor December 15, 1961. 
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