NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN ANTS. 
Family FORMICIDAE Latreille 1810. 
Subfamily Ponerinae Lepeletier 1836. 
Genus MYRMECIA Fabricius 1804 
Subgenus Promyrmecia Emery 1911. 
Myrmecia ( Promyrmecia ) aberrans Forel. 
(PI. I, figs. 1, 2.) 
Myrmecia aberrans Forel ; Ann. Soc. Ent. Belg. xliv, p. 54, 1900, £ ; 
Rev. Suisse. Zool. xviii, p. 9, 1910, 5. 
Myrmecia (Promyrmecia) aberrans Forel ; Emery, Gen. Ins., Fasc. 118, 
p. 19, 1, fig. 10, 1911, § ; Clark, Victorian Naturalist, xlii (6), 
p. 136 and 140, 1925, § ; Wheeler, Colony Founding Among Ants, 
Harvard University Press, 1933, §. 
Worker. — Length, 10-14 mm. 
Black ; top of the pronotum, mesonotum, epinotum and node, red ; 
mandibles and labrum yellowish red, points of teeth black ; antennae and 
tarsi brownish. Some examples have a reddish tinge on lateral borders of the 
head behind. 
Shining. Head longitudinally striate in middle, the striae between frontal 
carinae continued from front of clypeus to occipital border ; sides of clypeus 
and antennal depressions not striate, but finely and densely punctate, these 
fine punctures continued between the striae on head ; some large scattered 
punctures on occipital border. Pronotum longitudinally striate in middle, 
longitudinally arched at sides above : mesonotum smooth and shining, with 
some scattered shallow punctures ; there are faint traces of line longitudinal 
striae on some examples. Epinotum coarsely striate transversely, descending 
obliquely on the sides ; node circularly striate, with a central longitudinal 
carina ; postpetiole, gaster, scapes, and legs very finely and densely punctate. 
Hair yellowish, sparse on head and body, more abundant on the apical 
segments of gaster, but short and erect ; shorter and adpressed on the tibia 
and tarsi, tibia also furnished with some long bristle-like hairs on the underside. 
Pubescence greyish, very fine and adpressed on clypeus and funiculus ; more 
abundant on postpetiole and gaster, shorter and finer on sides of thorax. 
Head very slightly broader than long, broader behind than in front, 
occipital broader concave, angles broadly rounded. Mandibles short and 
broad, not as long as head, external border feebly concave at middle ; inner 
border nearly straight to basal third, thence strongly reduced to base ; fur- 
nished with twelve teeth, first two small, third, fifth, seventh, eighth, tenth 
and eleventh strong and obtuse ; the tenth forms the angle between the two 
apparent borders. Frontal carinae short, extending to about the posterior 
third of eyes. Clypeus strongly excised at middle in front, the excision obtuse, 
sides straight, forming a sharp tooth-like projection on each side. Labrum 
sharply rounded, projecting outward almost to the points of clypeus. Eyes 
large, moderately convex ; ocelli small. Scapes not extending to occipital 
[ 9 ] 
