Eciton

Smith, Frederick, 1855, Descriptions of some species of Brazilian ants belonging to the genera Pseudomyrma, Eciton and Myrmica (with observations on their economy by Mr. H. W. Bates), Transactions of the Entomological Society of London (2) 3, pp. 156-169 : 160

Genus Eciton , Latr.

Formica , pt. Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. p. 364; Latr. pt. Hist. Nat. Fourm. p. 265.

Myrmecia , pt. Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 425.

Eciton , Latr. Hist. Nat. des Crust, et des Ins.

Ancylognathus , Lund, An. Soc. Nat. xxvii.

Camptognatha , Westw. Griff. An. King. xv. 516.

The maxillary palpi 2-jointed; the basal joint clavate, broadest at the base; the second joint a little shorter than the first, truncate at the apex : the labial palpi 3-jointed ; the basal joint longest, the apical one shortest, its apex truncate. Workers, of two sizes; the larger individuals, in some species, having their mandibles protruded in an elongate curve, sickle-shaped, acute at their apex ; the smaller workers having the mandibles short, curved, broad and flattened in the middle; their apex acute: the tongue and palpi, when in repose, covered and protected by the labrum, which is convex, large and transverse, its inferior margin rounded ; head large, wider than the thorax, in some individuals disproportionately large ; eyes very minute, placed somewhat backwards and within the sides of the head, not visibly reticulated : the ocelli obsolete in the workers. Thorax unarmed ; abdomen with two nodes at its base. The males and females not known.