Pseudopodomyrma clarki Crawley

Clark, J., 1926, Australian Formicidae., Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 12, pp. 43-52 : 49-50

Pseudopodomyrma clarki Crawley . (Pl. VI, 5, 5a).

Ent. Record, vol. XXXVII, No. 3, p. 40-41, 1925 Worker.

Female: Length 5mm. (Ergatoid). (Not previously described).

Dark reddish brown; mandibles, clypeus, scapes, terminal joints of: the antennae and legs testaceous. Hairs yellowish. confined to the head and apical segments of the gaster, particularly below, where they are longer and more erect. Pubescence very flne and sparse.

Head and thorax shilling, petiole and abdomen opaque. Mandibles striate and with scattered punctures. Clypeus smooth and shilling in the middle, fìnely and densely reticulate-punctate at the sides. Head densely covered with large, deep punctures, a faint longitudinal striation between the frontal carinae. Pronotum with larger and coarser punctures, more scattered. Scutellum with large shallow punctures, more numerous on the sides than on the middle. Mesonotum with a few small punctures. Punctures on the epinotum similar to those on the scutellum. First node densely and more closely punctured than the rest of the body; the postpetiole not quite so densely covered and the punctures more shallow. Abdomen smooth, but with a microscopica] reticulatum.

Head as long as broad, broader behind than in front, the occipital border straight, the sides convex, the occipital angles broadly rounded. Frontal carinae short, extending back about level with the anterior margin of the eyes, wide apart, separated by fully their length behind; a moderately deep median impression between them extending to the occipital border. Clypeus produced, bilobed in the middle. Mandibles triangular, with moderately large teeth on the terminal border, apical point long and sharp. Eyes small, flattened, placed behind the middle of the sides. No traces of ocelli. Antennae short, scapes extending only to the occipital third of the head, curved, and gradually thickened to the apex; first joint of the funiculus broader than long, second and third as broad as long, fourth to ninth broader than long, tenth as broad as long, rounded at the apex. Thorax one and three-quarters times longer than broad, much broader through the pronotum than through the epinotum. Pronotum twice as broad as long, convex in front and on the sides, the anterior angles sharp, but not produced as teeth, the posterior angles feebly projecting at the scutellum. Scutellum large, slightly broader than long, broader behind than in front. There are no traces of wing pads. Mesonotum small and transverse. Epinotum broader than long, the dorsum and declivity united in one curve; near the bottoni of the declivity, on each side, is a flange-like projection. Node broader than long, somewhat cone-shaped, bluntly rounded on the dorsum, which is small, the anterior border below slightly concave, the angles produced outward and forward as broad, blunt, tooth-like projections; in profile it is as high as long, highest in the middle, the anterior face sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees, the posterior face sloping at a more obtuse angle, slightly convex, the posterior being much shorter than the anterior face. Postpetiole fully twice as broad as long, convex in front and on the sides; in profile it is twice as high as long. Abdomen one and one-third times longer than broad. First segment broader than long, much broader behind than in front. Legs short and stout, all the femora greatly incrassated in the middle; the anterior tibia very massive.

Hab .; Western Australia , Claremont (J. Clark) .

This female is from the same colony from which the worker was described by Crawley. It is very much like the worker in general appearance, and was only noticed when some examples were being carded. The head is much smaller than in the worker, and the scapes much shorter. The nodes of the pedicle are very dissimilar, and the gaster considerably larger. The colour is lighter, more reddish, with the clypeus, antennae and legs testaceous; they are dark castaneous in the worker. The pilosity and pubescente are similar, even to the two stout hairs on the base of the postpetiole above.

Although its general facies are extremely like the genus Podomyrma , the habits are quite different. All the species of Podomyrma are arboreal, living in the branches and trunks of trees. The present species lives underground, in the roots of a small shrub ( Leptospermum ), growing on the coastal sandhills. It appears to utilise the burrows of wood-boring Insects for its nest- I have not seen this ant outside of the nest during the day, but specimens have been found late in the evening, just before dark. The nest generally contains a large amount of insect remains.