Podomyrma, Smith

Smith, F., 1859, Catalogue of hymenopterous insects collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace at the Islands of Aru and Key., Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 3, pp. 132-158 : 145

Gen. Podomyrma, Smith .

Head oblong in the female, rather wider than the thorax; in the worker subovate and much wider; eyes small, ovate and placed about the middle at the sides of the head; antennae geniculated, the scape about two thirds of the length of the flagellum which is clavate, the club three-jointed; the mandibles stout and dentate; the labial palpi 3 - jointed; the maxillary palpi 4 - jointed. Thorax, oblong-ovate in the female, in the worker transverse in front and narrowed behind with the metathorax bidentate; the anterior wings with one elongate marginal cell and two submarginal cells, the second extending to the apex of the wing; the legs stout, the femora incrassate; abdomen ovate, the peduncle with two nodes.

The insects included in this genus are undoubtedly most nearly allied to those belonging to the genus Myrmecina ; but, excepting that they agree in having the same number of joints in the palpi, they have little resemblance to each other. With the exception of the genus Myrmecia , these are the largest insects in the subfamily Myrmicidae; and all the species are distinguished by their remarkably thickened femora and margined thorax: we are unacquainted with the males.