Formica quadriceps

9. Formica quadriceps.

F. nigra, nitida; capite antice oblique truncato, thorace postice compresso.

Worker. Length 3 1 / 2 lines. Shining black; head oblong-quadrate, slightly narrowed anteriorly, with the sides nearly straight, the posterior angles rounded, and very slightly emarginate behind; the head obliquely truncate from the base of the clypeus; the truncation as well as the mandibles obscurely ferruginous; the apex of the flagellum and the apical joints of the tarsi pale rufo-testaceous. Thorax rounded anteriorly, compressed behind, with the metathorax abruptly truncate. The scale of the petiole narrow, incrassate, its anterior margin slightly curved, its posterior margin straight; the abdomen ovate.

Worker minor. About 3 lines long, very like the larger worker, the head being truncate in front; but it is, in proportion to the thorax, narrower; the latter is compressed and abruptly truncate; in other respects it agrees with the worker major.

Hab. Aru.