Pseudomyrma cephalica, Guérin-Ménéville, 1844

Smith, Frederick, 1855, Descriptions of some species of Brazilian ants belonging to the genera Pseudomyrma, Eciton and Myrmica (with observations on their economy by Mr. H. W. Bates), Transactions of the Entomological Society of London (2) 3, pp. 156-169 : 168-169

Sp. 11. Pseudomyrma cephalica , n. s.

Female.-Length 3 lines. Pale yellow testaceous, very smooth and shining; the head thrice as long as broad, the sides parallel, the eyes elongate-ovate; the mandibles black at their tips; the posterior margin of the vertex slightly emarginate. Thorax narrower than tlie head, elongate, rounded in front and behind ; a minute black spot at the insertion of the wings, which are hyaline and beautifully iridescent; the femora broad and compressed. Abdomen petiolate, the petiole of nearly equal width throughout, or very slightly widest towards the apex ; the second segment sub-globose; the base of the third segment fuscous, the two apical ones black, or fuscous.

Worker.-Length lines. Rufo-testaceous; the head and thorax palest; the entire insect is covered with a delicate silky pile, most observable on the abdomen; the head oblong, the eyes large, occupying a large portion of the sides of the head; the petiole of the abdomen narrowest at the base ; the first segment sub-globose, widest at the apex, this and the following segments slightly fuscous, and sprinkled with a few glittering hairs.

This sex is very like the P. oculata , of which a figure is given, but the head is proportionably rather narrower ; the prothorax is oval, not widest in front; the petiole is rather shorter, and not so slender at the base.

Male.-Length 2\ lines. Testaceous; the antennae and legs pale testaceous; the head scarcely longer than broad; the eyes large, oval and placed at the sides of the head anteriorly; the ocelli large and glassy bright; the sides of the head rounded behind the eyes; the vertex emarginate. Thorax, the scutellum prominent; the wings hyaline, and beautifully iridescent, the nervures and stigma pale testaceous ; the abdomen of the same form as that of the worker; the insect thinly covered with fine short silky pubescence.

Hab. Brazil (Villa Nova, on the Amazons).