24 
AUSTRALIAN SPECIES OF RHYTIDOPONERA MAYR 
17, Scape one-fourth longer than second segment of funicu- 
lus. Node low and convex, slightly higher behind. Spine 
very slender and sharp, twice as long as broad at base. 
Node, gaster and legs very densely delicately reticulate. 
Chocolate brown. 8-5-9 mm micans sp. nov. 
18. Scape as long as second segment of funiculus. Node 
high and strongly convex behind, sloping gradually in 
front. Spine thorn-like, as long as broad at base. Node 
and gaster very finely and superficially striate transversely. 
Chocolate brown. 7-8 mm spatiata For. 
Rhytidoponera cerastes Crawley 
(PI. Ill, fig. la.) 
Rhytidoponera cerastes Crawley, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 9, xvi, p. 584, 
fig. i, 1925, ^ . 
Worker.— Length, 10-11 mm. 
Mandibles and clypeus chocolate-brown; head, thorax and legs darker, 
scapes and gaster black, apex of funiculi and tibiae reddish. 
Mandibles very finely and densely striate, with numerous fine, scattered, 
piligerous punctures. Clypeus longitudinally rugose-striate. Head irregu- 
larly rugose on middle, sides and horns, strongly reticulate between the 
eyes and horns with scattered large shallow punctures. Thorax transversely 
striate-reticulate, with large, shallow scattered punctures, much coarser on 
epinotal declivity and node, anterior face of node transversely striate. Gaster 
very finely striate transversely, with numerous very fine punctures. 
Hair 3'ellow, long and erect on clypeus and apex of gaster, very sparse, 
short and erect on head and body, more abundant, but shorter and suberect 
on antennae and legs. Bristles on underside of tibiae very long. 
Head one-fifth longer than broad, greatly reduced behind eyes, sides 
convex, occipital corners produced into long horns, almost as long as broad 
at base, ratlier sharply pointed, directed backward and slightly outward. 
Mandibles sharp, edentate. Clypeus convex, bluntly pointed in front. Frontal 
carinae as long as broad, twice as broad in front as behind. Frontal area 
deeply impressed. Scapes extend beyond occipital border by almost half 
their length; second and third segments of funiculi equal in length, one-third 
longer than first, fourth to tenth gradually shortening, apical not as long as 
the two preceding. Eyes placed behind the middle of sides. Thorax barely 
twice as long as broad. Pronotum as long as broad, slightly broader behind 
than in front, sides feebly concave; there is a shallow longitudinal impression 
in the middle, pro-mesonotal suture sharply defined but not deep. Mesonotum 
very slightly broader than long, almost circular. Epinotum parallel. In 
profile the pronotum and mesonotum form an even convexity, indented at 
the suture, higher than epinotum, the latter flat on dorsum, rounded into 
deqlivity which is as long as dorsunl Node as broad as long, bluntly pointed 
in front, a deep longitudinal groove extends from the front edge to bottom 
of posterior face. In profile higher than long, the anterior face slightly 
convex, sloping backward to base of anterior face, making the node appear 
somewhat as a pointed cone with the apex slightly forward of the middle ; 
ventral spine short and sharp, about as long as broad at base. Postpetiole 
one-fourth broader than long, cone-shaped, first segment of gaster one-fourth 
broader than long, broadest in front, sides strongly convex. Legs long and 
robust. 
