Meranoplus

Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269 : 183-184

Meranoplus F. Smith

Worker. -Body short and stout, somewhat flattened. Head broader behind than in front, convex above with frontal carinae far apart, diverging behind and prolonged backwards us the upper margins of deep scrobes above the eyes for the accommodation of the whole folded antennae. Eyes prominent, placed near the posterior corners of the head; ocelli absent. Clypeus short and steep. Mandibles small and stout, with a few subequal teeth. Antennae 9-jointed, with a large 3-jointed elub; the scapes thickened distally. Thorax short and broad, flattened above, the pro- and mesonotum marginate or lamellately expanded on the sides and behind, forming a disc with spined or toothed anterior corners and with the posterior margin lobed or toothed and overhanging the epinotum, which is very steep or vertical and usually armed with spines. Petiole squamiform, cuneate in profile. Postpetiole with a cuboidal, globose or squamiform node. Gaster large, oval or cordate, emarginate anteriorly at the articulation of the postpetiole. Body usually more or less opaque or subopaque and sculptured, covered with long, abundant and soft or Hexuous hairs.

Female decidedly larger than the worker, with 9-jointed antennae. Thorax stout; pronotum large and exposed above; mesonotum large and convex, rounded on the sides; epinotum unarmed. Fore wings with large pterostigma, a cubital, a discoidal and a closed radial cell.

Male only slightly larger than the worker, rather slender, with 13-jointcd antennae; the scape very short; the first funicular joint globose, the second not much longer than the scape. Head produced behind, with very prominent eyes and ocelli. Antennal scrobes absent. Mesonotum with Mayrian furrows, rounded and unarmed on the sides or behind. Epinotum abrupt, unarmed. Nodes of petiole low. Legs slender. Wings as in the female.

This genus is confined to the Old World tropics and ranges over the Ethiopian, Malagasy, Indomalayan, and Australian Regions (Map 26), being represented by the greatest number of species in Australia. The species form moderately populous colonies which nest in the ground, either under stones or in small crater nests. Many of the Australian species which I have observed in the field are true harvesters, storing their nests with seeds. The same habit has been recorded for an Indian species, M. bicolor (Guerin) . Arnold, however, says that the species he has observed in Rhodesia "appear to be mainly carnivorous in their diet, but are also fond of sugary substance and attend aphids and coccids on plants." The workers move very slowly and readily curl up and "feign death" when handled.