Heptacondylus

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 171

Genus 2. PHYSATTA.

Head small; eyes of moderate size, placed a little above the middle of the head; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; mandibles stout, and denticulate at the apex; antennae short, not so long as the head and thorax; the scape nearly as long as the flagel- lum, slightly thickened at the apex; flagellum subclavate, 6- jointed, the first joint shorter than the second, the third, fourth and fifth about the same length as the first, the apical joint the length of the two basal ones. Maxillary palpi 3-jointed, the basal and apical joints of about equal length, the intermediate joint twice the length of the apical one, the latter obliquely truncate at the apex. Labial palpi 3-jointed, the two basal joints clavate, the apical one fusiform. Thorax subglobose; anterior wings with one marginal and two submarginal cells, the first submarginal cell about the length of the stigma, the second extending to the apex of the wing, with one subtriangular dis- coidal cell; the tibiae armed with a single spur at their apex. Abdomen globose, pedunculated, the peduncle with two nodes.

This genus in one of its most prominent characteristics agrees with the genus Heptacondylus , both having seven-jointed an- tennae; the wings, however, have a totally different neuration, and this character is perhaps of paramount importance in con- structing generic divisions for the Formicidae .