Formica virescens

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 29-30

97.. Formica virescens . Pl. III. figs. 24-27. B.M.

Formica virescens, Fabr. Syst. Eut. 392. 9 [[worker]]; Spec. Ins. i. 490.

13; Mant. Ins. i. 308. 16; Ent. Syst. ii. 355. 23; and Cab.

Mus. Dom. Banks.

Oliv. Encycl. Meth. vi. 494. 20.

Gmelin, Syst. Nat. Ins. ii. 2800. 32.

Formica longinoda, Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 184 [[worker]].

Lasius virescens, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 417. 8,

Formica macra, Guer. Voy. Coq. Zool. ii. 202; Atlas, t. 8. f. 1,

1 a, 1 b [[worker]].

This species we consider to be the African and Australian representative of the F. smaragdina ; the species is rather smaller, the female has shorter wings, the nervures blacker, and with a fuscous stain along their course; it also differs from F. smaragdina in having the scale or node of the abdomen rather longer, and in its being elevated anteriorly. The worker of F. virescens has the head more convex behind the eyes than in F. smaragdina , and the petiole of the abdomen is shorter, and of a somewhat different form.

The male of F. virescens is 3 lines in length, of a pale rufo-testaceous colour, varying in depth in different specimens, and is covered with short thin pale pubescence; the head with the vertex subquadrate, slightly narrowed posteriorly, with the angles rounded; the eyes larger than in the female; the first joint of the flagellum clavate, nearly as long as the two following, the rest being subovate and of nearly equal length. Thorax subovate, narrowed posteriorly; the wings ample, hyaline, with the nervures ferruginous. The legs very slender and elongate. Abdomen rounded, the petiole narrowed at the base.

Hab. Africa; Australia.