Odontomachus haematodes

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 76

1. Odontomachus haematodes . PL V. figs. 4-7. B.M.

Formica hematoda , Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 965. 17 [[worker]].

Fabr. Syst. Ent. 395. 26; Ent. Syst. ii. 364. 29.

Oliv. Encycl. Meth. vi. 502. 58.

Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourni. 192.

Formica maxillosa, De Geer , Ins. iii. 601. pl. 31. f. 3,4, 5 [[queen]].

Oliv. Encycl. Meth. vi. 502. 59.

Formica unispinosa, Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. 359.39.

Myrmecia haematoda , Fabr. Syst. Piez. 425. 7.

Formica unispinosa, Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 193 [[worker]].

Myrmecia unispinosa, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 423. 1.

Odontomachus haematodes , Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 128 [[worker]].

Odontomachus unispinosa, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 128 [[worker]].

Hab. Brazil (Para, Villa Nova); Cayenne.

The sexes of this species have been received from Mr. H. W. Bates, who took them from the same nest; in a note on the species he says:-" Colonies of this insect are found beneath fallen leaves in the shade of trees; their communities consist of a few individuals, about thirty or forty, which scamper off with their pupae on being disturbed." They vary in colour, some of the workers having the head, thorax and legs pale testaceous.

The male is about 3 lines in length, entirely of a pale ochraceous colour, the antennae and legs being yellowish-white; the antennae are nearly as long as the body, the wings clear hyaline, the nervures colourless, the stigma dark brown; the node of the abdomen, is conical and blunt at the apex, the abdomen elongateovate, with the margins of the segments slightly depressed.

Mr. Bates says, " On turning over a rotten branch of a tree lying on the ground, I found a small colony of this species; immediately on finding themselves disturbed, each seized a Termes-worker, of which there was a small colony in the same place, and walked off. I noticed that they took up the Termes very carefully, just in the same way as ants take up their own pupae and larvae when disturbed."