Cambridge Entomological Club, 1874
PSYCHE

A Journal of Entomology

founded in 1874 by the Cambridge Entomological Club
Quick search

Print ISSN 0033-2615
January 2008: Psyche has a new publisher, Hindawi Publishing, and is accepting submissions

Note on the Habits of Liomyrmex.
Psyche 21:75, 1914.

Full text (searchable PDF, 88K)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/21/21-075.html


The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

19141 WheelerÌÔNote on the Habits of American Liomyrex 75 Apterous male: Pronotum a little broader than long, rounded behind. Last dorsal segment of abdomen truncate at apex, last ventral segment arcuately emar- ginate at apex.
First genital segment ferruginous beneath at the base. Posterior, femora very strongly incrassate, not reaching the tip of the apical genital segment spined beneath from the apex to a little beyond the middle, the first spine (near the middle) the longest, the following gradually diminishing in length toward the apex. Posterior tibiaa straight, finely denticulate beneath down their whole length, with- out large teeth, the teeth of the middle third slightly longer, the apical third slightly narrower than the rest.
Length, 4 mm.
Locality: Nicaragua (Granada) .
Allied to Rh. fernoralis Champ., but the antennse are differently constructed; the venter is not ridged in the middle; the posterior tibise have no large teeth, etc.
NOTE ON THE HABITS OF LIOMYRMEX.
BY WILLIAM MORTON WHEELER,
Bussey Institution, Harvard University.
The ant genus Liomyrmex conlprises four described species, CCKCUS F. Smith, gestroi Emery, aurianus Emery and carinatus St&, all from New Guinea, except aurianus, which has been taken hitherto only on the island of Tenasserim, off the coast of Burniah. L. carinatus and gestroi are known only from female specimens, the other two species only from workers. The complete absence of eyes in the latter phase and its testaceous coloration show that these ants must be decidedly hypogseic, but no account of their habits has been published.
Recently Prof. C. F. Baker has sent me from Mt. Makiling, on the island of Luzon, Philippines, several worker specimens, which, except in their slightly smaller size, agree perfectly with Emery's description of the Burmese L. aurianus (Ann. Mus. Civ. Geneva, XXVII, 1889, p. 504). Prof. Baker states in his letter that these ants were found in the forest, "abundant with termites-living in the same chambers with these in entire amity." The termites, of which a number were included in the same vial with the Liomyrmex, are workers and soldiers of Termes (Macroiermes) gilvus Hagen, which is widely distributed in the East Indies (Singapore, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines, etc.) . This must be a formidable species, for the larger soldiers measure nearly 10 mm. and are furnished with acute and powerful jaws.




================================================================================


Volume 21 table of contents