Monomorium (Paraholcomyrmex) destructor, Jerd., var. pallidus, Donisthorpe

Crawley, W. C., 1920, Ants from Mesopotamia and north-west Persia (concluded), Entomologists Record and Journal of Variation 32, pp. 177-179 : 3

[. Monomorium (Paraholcomyrmex) destructor, Jerd., var. pallidus, Donisthorpe (Ent. Rec., xxx. 10, p. 166, 1918).]

☿ . L. 2.0 mm.

Monomorphic. Entirely pale yellow, in some specimens the apical half of first segment of gaster and the following segments very slightly darker.

A few stiff hairs on clypeus, head, pronotum, nodes and gaster ; antennæ hairy but without exsertéd hairs. Short scanty adherent hairs scattered over head and legs.

Mandibles 4-dentate. Anterior border of clypeus straight, the central portion concave and bounded on each side by a well-defined carina. Head elongate-oval, posterior border almost straight. Eyes just in advance of middle of sides. The scapes extend barely beyond occipital border. Club of funiculus 3-jointed, all the joints much longer than thick ; the second is much longer than the first, and the apical joint is longer than the two following taken together. The rest of the joints are approximately equal except the first.

Thorax with a fairly deep incision ; the angle between base and declivity of epinotum rounded ; dorsum of epinotum flat, not longitudinally impressed. Stalk of petiole rather short ; first node hardly higher than second, broad at base ; the second broader, rounded.

Mandibles striate along the flattened outer border, smooth and shining towards apex. Clypeus smooth and shining. Head entirely smooth and shining, with a few minute piligerous points, pronotum also smooth and shining ; rest of thorax and epinotum closely thimble-punctured, pedicel less so. Gaster entirely smooth and shing.

♀ (Hitherto undescribed). L. 4 - 5 mm.

Yellow, but a deeper shade than the ÿ: a narrow V-shaped mark on scutum, a patch on each side of mesonofcum, the wing insertions and borders of ocelli brown ; a band, broadening at the sides, along the apical border of first segment of gaster, and the whole of the remaining segments of gaster dark brown ; extreme apical borders of segments yellow. 'Pilosity as in 5 , but longer. Head longer than broad, but shorter proportionately than in 5 ; occipital border shallowly excavated; scapes somewhat shorter proportionately; eyes large, slightly in advance of middle of sides. Dorsum of thorax almost horizontal ; epinotum descends abruptly with hardly any division between base and declivity.

First node narrower in profile than in g . Gaster large, oval. Head with a superficial longitudinal striation ; thorax shining, with a few small punctures, epinotum and pedicel as in g ; gaster shining.

☿ , Amara (Buxton) 1918 ; N.E. of Baghdad (Evans) 1918, with a single dealated 5 .

Recorded in 1918 by Donisthorpe* as a colour variety of M. (Paraholcomynnex) destructor, Jerd . The characters of the subgenus Paraholcomynnex , however, as defined by Emery (Bull. Soc. ent. Fr., 'p. 191, 1915) are: ÿ g somewhat dimorphic, first and second joints of club of antennæ visibly equal. Pallidum has the first joint of club considerably shorter and narrower than the second, and its ☿ ☿ are monomorphic ; it will therefore rank as a species belongipg to the subgenus Monomorium (s.str.).

* Specimens were sent by me to Mons. Emery as I was unable to make it agree with any known species and he returned them to me as a pale form of M. destructor . I therefore described it as a new variety of that species. I entirely agree with Mr. Crawley that it is a new species.-H.St.J.D.