PSYCHE 
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APR 2 9 1954 
lRSITY 
Vol. 60 December, 1953 No. 4 
THE ANT LARVAE OF THE MYRMICINE TRIBE 
PHEIDOLOGETINH 
By George C. Wheeler and Jeanette Wheeler 
Department of Biology, University of North Dakota 
In the Genera Insectorum Emery included the genera 
Lophomyrmex, T rig onog aster, Pheidologeton, Aneleus, Oli- 
gomyrmex, Erebomyrma, Carebara and Paedalgus in the 
tribe Pheidologetini. Wheeler placed these genera in the 
Solenopsidini but admitted (1922, p. 659) that the latter 
tribe was “very unsatisfactorily defined.” We have followed 
Emery. 
The tribe Pheidologetini comprises about a hundred 
species, most of which are Paleotropical. The tribe is noted 
for the large size of the queens. In C. vidua, for example, 
the volume ratio of queen to worker is several thousand to 
one. Pheidologeton is a genus of harvesters, with a poly- 
morphic worker caste ranging from minute minimae 
through a graded series to gigantic soldiers with enormous 
heads. The other genera are suspected of having relations 
with termites, though just what sort of relations has never 
been proved. At least they nest in termitaria. Aneleus and 
Oligomyrmex have the worker caste strongly dimorphic — 
large headed soldier and small worker. In Lophomyrmex, 
T rig onog aster, Erebomyrma, Carebara and Paedalgus the 
worker caste is monomorphic and minute. 
In this article we have described the larvae of 13 
species in seven genera. These larvae do not constitute a 
homogeneous group. They are nevertheless better defined 
^The research on which this article is based was aided by a grant-in-aid 
from the Sigma Xi — Resa Research Fund. 
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