Formica cosmica

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 34-35

116. Formica cosmica . B.M.

Worker major. Length 3 1/2 lines.-Black: the head and thorax very thinly covered with sericeous down; the abdomen with a dense pale golden pubescence; the mandibles and flagellum ferruginous; the tarsi have their apical joints obscurely ferruginous. Head large, much wider than the thorax, emarginate behind; the clypeus with a central longitudinal carina, in a line with which a slightly impressed line runs upwards nearly to the emargination of the vertex. Thorax compressed posteriorly. Abdomen: all the segments with a narrow white apical margin. Worker minor. Length 2 1/4 lines.-This differs in having the head much narrower and more elongate; the thorax is also more elongate; otherwise it resembles the large worker.

Hab. Port Natal. (Coll. R. W. Plant.)