Myopias tasmanienisis, Wheeler, W. M., 1923

Wheeler, W. M., 1923, Ants of the genera Myopias and Acanthoponera., Psyche 30, pp. 175-192 : 177-179

Myopias tasmanienisis sp. nov. (Fig. 1.) Worker. Length 3.8-4 mm.

Head subrectangular, as broad as long, slightly narrower behind than in front, with nearly straight sides and feebly, broadly concave posterior border. Eyes very small and flat,situated more than their own length from the posterior border of the clypeus, consisting of hardly more than 15 minute, crowded ommatidia. Mandibles long and narrow, convex and deflected, their external border straight in the middle, the apical border with four teeth (counting the terminal), the most basal small, acute and erect, near the middle of the border, the next somewhat larger and blunter and the preapical small and close to the terminal tooth. Clypeus very short, vertical, and transverse, above with a short, shelf-like, projecting, rectangular lobe immediately under the frontal carinae. The latter with prominent, closely approximated lobes, their posterior continuations short and subparallel. Frontal groove deep and broad, extending back somewhat beyond the middle of the head. Antennal scapes reaching to within about twice the diameter of their tips from the posterior corners of the head; funiculi long, thickened distally, first joint about one and one-half times as long as broad, not as long as the three following joints together; these and the remaining joints, except the last, distinctly broader than long, the four terminal joints forming a distinct club. Thorax narrower than the head, with rather straight dorsal outline in profile, interrupted at the pronounced promesonotal and mesoëpinotal sutures; pronotum broader than long, somewhat rounded above and on the sides; mesonotum transversely elliptical, nearly twice as broad as long; epinotum subcuboidal, the base straight and distinctly longer than the abrupt declivity with which it forms a rounded rectangle, the declivity flat, not marginate on the sides or above. Petiole subcuboidal, higher and somewhat broader than long, rounded above; in dorsal view trapezoidal, narrower in front than behind, with straight sides and very feebly concave anterior and posterior borders, its ventral surface anteriorly with a small, blunt, lamellate tooth. Postpetiole broader than long, nearly half again as broad as the petiole, truncated in front and marked off by a strong constriction from the broader and more rounded first gastric segment, which is about one and one-third times as broad as long. Remaining segments very small. Sting well-developed. Legs long and rather stout; middle and hind tibias each with a well developed spur, the one on the hind tibiae larger.

Very smooth and shining; mandibles with a few scattered punctures; clypeus transversely rugulose; cheeks finely punctate; upper surface of head, thorax, petiole, postpetiole and first gastric segment rather coarsely punctate, the punctures being smallest and most numerous on the head, largest and least numerous on the thorax and node and intermediate in size and density on the postpetiole and gaster. Legs rather finely and indistinctly punctulate.

Hairs yellow, sparse, erect or suberect, longest on the gaster; short, abundant and subappressed on the appendages. Pubescence long, distinct only on the dorsal surface of the head.

Deep ferruginous-brown; clypeus and borders of mandibles darker; legs paler, dull brownish yellow.

Described from two specimens taken by Mr. A. M. Lea at Hobart, Tasmania.

This species seems to be very close to the two other known species of the genus. It differs from amblyops in possessing an additional tooth on the mandibles, from cribriceps in having a shorter head and petiole and smaller eyes, and from both in having a small rectangular shelf-like lobe which projects from the upper part of the clypeus immediately under and between the lobes of the frontal carinae. This last character is of peculiar significance since a similar though longer rectangular projection is one of the peculiarities of Trapeziopelta Mayr, a genus in. other respects very closely related to Myopias , as Emery has remarked. One might, indeed, go so far as to regard Trapeziopelta as a subgenus of Myopias .