PSYCHE 
VOL. LI 
Sept.-Dec., 1944 
Nos. 3-4 
SYSTEMATIC NOTES ON THE GENUS 
PSEUDOMYRMA 1 
By E. V. Enzmann 2 
The Haskins Laboratory 
The genus Pseudomyrma is one of the most difficult of the 
genera of the family Formicidse and few systematists have at- 
tempted to explore the intricacies of its classification. 
The genus was created by Latreille, 1831; up to the middle 
of the past century only a few forms were known of which 
Fabricius described two and Guerin and Spinola each contrib- 
uted two more. The genus began to suffer from a sort of ab- 
normal growth due to the writings of F. Smith who added some 
forty new forms, most of them badly characterized. In one case 
Smith illustrated the description of a Pseudomyrma with the 
drawing of an Eciton. The resultant chaos discouraged many 
later writers, a fact which can be readily seen by a perusal of 
the small list of later contributors. Thus, Mayr described 7 
forms, Roger 4, Emery 15, Forel 78, Wheeler 6 and Santschi 16. 
In addition, Buckley, Norton, Wasmann and Aquayo each de- 
scribed one; Mann and Sitz described two each, and Wheeler 
in collaboration with Mann added four more. 
Through the kindness of Professor Banks, Curator of the 
Entomological Collections of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology, Harvard University, we are in the fortunate position 
of having access to the large collection, which is mainly built 
around Wheeler’s material; many of the types and identified 
specimens are available here. 
The Haskins Collection contains an additional number of 
1 Published with the aid of a grant from the Museum of Comparative Zoology 
at Harvard College. 
3 Mailing address: The Biological Laboratories, Harvard University. 
