W. M. Wheeler.
Paranomopone, A New Genus of Ponerine Ants from Queensland.
Psyche 22(4):117-120, 1915.

This article at Hindawi Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1155/1915/23150
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Anthonomus comulus Lec. Pyrus arbutifolia, Prunus virginiana, H. Cornus alter- nifolia, W.
A. moleculus Casey. Fragaria virginiana, F. A. quadrigibbus Say.
Primus virginiana, F.
A. signatus Say.
Rubus allegheniensis, S.
Balanhs obtusus Blanch. Cornus, F.
Centrinus scutellum-album Say.
Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, Spiraea salic- ifolia, S.
Conotrackdus nenuphar Hbst.
Prunus virginiana, H. W.
Daytomus brevicollis Lec. Salix discolor, S. Geraus picumnus Hbst. Viburnum, Aster, F. Listronotus appendiculatus Boh.
Sagittaria latifolia, W.
k u s concavus Say. Ranunculus, F.
Madams undulatus Say. Solidago, F.
Mononychus vulpeculus Fab.
Iris versicolor, F. W.
Nicentrus lineicollis Boh.
Ceanothus americanus, Solidago, F.
Orchestes pallicornis Say.
Amelanchier canadensis, S.
Piazorhinus scutellatus Say. Viburnum, F. Pseudanthonomus cratagi Walsh.
Amelanchier camdensis, Prunus virginiana, F. Rhinoncus pyrrhopus Boh.
Rumex acetosella, F.
PARANOMOPONE, A NEW GENUS OF PONERINE ANTS FROM QUEENSLAND .l
Paranomopone gen. nov,
Worker. Rather small, monomorphic. Mandibles triangular, with toothed apical borders.
Clypeus short, not produced in the middle, indistinctly marked off from the remainder of the head.
This is also true of the triangular frontal area. Frontal carinae distinctly dilated, further apart than the distance of each to the lateral border of the head. concealing the insertions of the antennae, continued back about three-fourths the length of the head as the medial border of a deep scrobe which lies entirely dorsal to the eye. The ventral border of this scrobe, which is somewhat more than three times as long as broad, is also very sharp. Its depres- sion is divided by a median longitudinal ridge which does not extend to the posterior end of the scrobe, so that the latter is incompletely separated into two com- partments, one for the accommodation of the scape and one for the funiculus, when 1 Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Busses Institution, Harvard Uni- versity. No. 93.




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118 Psyche [August
the antenna is folded back against the head. Eyes small, situated behind the mid-
dle of the head. Ocelli absent. Antennae l%jointed, funiculus somewhat en- larged at the tip into a 3-jointed club, which, however, is not very sharply marked off from the more basal joints.
Palpi extremely short. The number of their joints could not be ascertained.
Thorax small and short, with a very distinct promesono- tal but no mesoepinotal suture; epinotum unarmed. Petiole nodiform, attached
to the postpetiole by a very small, narrow surface. Postpetiole voluminous, larger
than the first gastric segment, constricted behind, remaining gastric segments very small, almost completely telescoped into the first segment. Sting well-developed. Legs rather stout a.nd short; hind tibiae each with a single large, richly pectinated spur; tarsal claws simple, slender and straight. Sculpture and pilosity rather
*
coarse.
Female.
Ergatoid and differing from the worker only in having an anterior ocellus and in the larger size of the postpetiole and first gastric segment, and in the latter being as large as the former.
Paranomopone relicta sp. nov.
Worker. (Figs. 1-4). Length 4-4.5 mm.
Head, excluding the mandibles, scarcely longer than broad, distinctly narrower in front than behind, with broadly and rather deeply excised posterior border and prominent posterior corners, its sides rather straight, its upper surface convex, the gula flattened. Mandibles with slightly convex external borders and about 7-8 subequal teeth on t,he apical borders. Clypeus flat, with a sharp median carina, anteriorly very slightly projecting as a short lobe with straight median border and rounded corners. Antenna1 scapes about three-fourths the length of the head; first funicular joint about as long as broad: joints 2-8 decidedly broader than long; first and second joints of club subequal, each about as long as broad and together distinctly shorter than the terminal joint. Thorax narrower than the head, broadest through the pronoturn, which, seen from above and excluding the neck, is nearly twice as broad as long, broadest in front, with the humeral and infe- rior angles sharp and pointed. Promesonotal suture very sharp and distinct; mes- oepinotnm from above less than twice as long as broad, its sides feebly concave, in profile scarcely longer than high, with the base of the epinotum convex and some- what longer than the declivity, which is concave and sloping and has a distinctly crenulate margin on each side. Petiole from above broadly elliptical, slightly broader than long, with rounded sides; in profile as high as the thorax, about one and three-fourths times as high as long, with straight and perpendicular anterior, . convex and horizontal superior and concave and perpendicular posterior surface. Ventral surface with a small tooth near its anterior border. Postpetiole from above and from the side rounded, as broad as long, broader and longer than the first gas- tric segment, which is rather cylindrical and encloses the small remaining gastric sements. There is a small blunt tooth at the anterio-ventral margin of the post- petiole.
Rather shining; mandibles smooth, sparsely and rather coarsely punctate. Cly-
peus with a few sharp longitudinal rugae on the sides. Head between the frontal carinze and medial borders of the scrobes traversed by about seven sharp longitu-



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19151 Wheeler-Paranomopone 119
dinal rugse on each side of the median line, which is itself represented by a ruga continuous anteriorly with the median carinula of the frontal area and the clypeal carina. The rugse diverge on each side of the middle line and there are shallow, elongate punctures in the interrugal spaces. Cheeks also with similar, but more reticulate, coarse rugse. On the occiput and posterior corners of the head the longi- tudinal rugse are replaced by very coarse punctures or foveolse, so close together that the spaces separating them are converted into reticulate rugse. Thorax, petiole, postpetiole, and first gastric segment finely punctate and covered with foveolse similar to those on the occiput but distinctly sparser on the postpetiole and gaster. Epinotal declivity, posterior declivity of petiole, scrobes of the head and a portion of the mesopleurae glabrous and very shining, the scrobe also slightly striolate. An- tennse, legs and terminal gastric segments subopaque, finely and densely punctate. Hairs and pubescence rather coarse, grayish yellow; the former long, erect, of unequal length, covering the body, legs and scapes and quite as long on the extensor surfaces of the appendages as on the body. Pubescence long and appressed on the body, most distinct on the gaster and postpetiole, finer and denser on the legs and antenna1 scapes.
Head, thorax and petiole dark brown or piceous above; mandibles, clypeus, antennae, pleurae, legs, sides of petiole and the whole of the postpetiole and gaster richer brownish red.
Female. (Figs. 5 and 6.) Length 5.5 mm.
Differing from the worker only in the shape and size of the abdomen, the post- petiole and first gastric segment being larger and the latter as broad as the petiole and fully as broad as long. These segments are of the same dark brown color as the head and thorax, whereas the remaining gastric segments are paler brownish red, like the legs, antennas and mandibles. Described from a single female and two workers taken October 28, 1914, under a large rotten log in the moist tropical "scrub" ,
at Kuranda in Northern Queensland.
These specimens with a
few nearly full-grown larvae apparently comprised the whole colony. The larva (Figs. 7 and 8) is rather slender, pure white and covered with delicate white hairs, which are short and rather dense, espe- cially on the dorsal surface, and interspersed with fewer, longer and more flexuous hairs. The head is rounded, sparsely hairy and bears a pair of well-developed, tridentate mandibles. Paranornopone has all the ear-marks of being a very ancient, possibly Mesozoic genus, which still survives as a very rare relict in tropical Queensland. It is difficult to assign it to a definite position in any of the existing tribes of the subfamily Ponerinse as enumerated and defined by Emery in the "Genera Insectorurn." In the structure of the thorax and abdomen there is considerable resemblance to the peculiar Haytian genus Emergella Fore1 among



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