Acanthoponera (A.) spininodis, Weber, N. A., 1939

Weber, N. A., 1939, New ants of rare genera and a new genus of ponerine ants., Annals of the Entomological Society of America 32, pp. 91-104 : 97

Acanthoponera (A.) spininodis , sp. nov.

(Fig. 2)

Worker.-Length, 4.2-4.3 mm. Head, excluding mandibles, barely longer than broad in front of eyes. Anterior clypeal margin straight, sides of head in front of eyes convex, occipital angles nearly rectangular, occipital margin slightly concave. Eyes large, convex. Frontal carinae lamellate in front of eyes, gradually decreasing posteriorly into vermiculate rugae. Antennal scrobes extending around posterior corners of head to back of eyes. Antennal scapes not quite extending to occipital margin. Mandibles triangular; with 6-8 irregular teeth. Pronotum from above convex, slightly more than twice as broad as basal surface of epinotum in front of spines, anteromedially produced as low, laterally compressed, truncate tubercle. Thorax in profile slightly impressed at pro-mesonotal and meso-epinotal sutures. Epinotal spines from above diverging, slightly longer than the width of the basal surface in front of them, in profile straight, directed backwards and upwards. Petiole with spine distinctly longer than epinotal spines and forming dorsally an obtuse angle, ventrally a concavity. Gaster ovate. Legs of moderate length.

Sculpturing of head, thorax and petiole coarsely reticulate-rugose; median carina extends length of head over clypeus to occipital margin; proximal two-thirds of petiolar spine sculptured as on petiole. Gaster smooth but for fine setigerous punctations. With moderately abundant fine,'upright hairs of moderate length interspersed with more abundant short hairs which on the gaster become a reclinate, silky pubescence.

Color uniformly yellowish-brown.

Described from two workers taken by myself on the summit of El Tucuche (3,072 feet), one of the two highest peaks in Trinidad, B. W. I., December 15, 1934. The ants were taken at about 10 p. m. as they crawled over the leaves of bromeliads growing close to the ground in the dripping wet, mossy rain forest. Tree frogs ( Amphodus auratus, Eleutherodactylus urichi, and Gastrotheca fitzgeraldi ) were also out on the leaves and snapped up passing ants but the stomachs of those examined did not contain the Acanthoponeras.

Of the two known species of the subgenus Acanthoponera in the New World with their two varieties and a subspecies, this new species is closest to goeldii ssp. schwarzi Wheeler which is known from the single worker taken in Guatemala. These are the two smallest forms and are closely related. From schwarzi (comparing with the type in the Museum of Comparative Zoology) this new species differs in possessing stouter epinotal spines, less deflected petiolar spine, coarser sculpturing of head and thorax, less pilose head, and in darker color.