Formica Natalensis

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 33

113. Formica Natalensis . B.M.

Female. Length 7 lines.-Shining black, with the head above and the disk of the thorax opake. Head elongate; the clypeus carinated longitudinally; the mandibles obscurely ferruginous; the flagellum rufo-testaceous; the eyes placed rather high on the back of the head; a smooth impressed line runs from the anterior stemma to the base of the clypeus. The mesothorax with a deeply impressed line in the middle running backwards one-third of its length; a finer and more slightly impressed line runs on each side over the tegulae; a few scattered punctures on the disk; the metathorax rounded behind; the apical joints of the tarsi ferruginous; the wings fusco-hyaline, palest towards their apex, the nervures testaceous, the stigma dark brown. Abdomen ovate; the apical margins of the segments narrowly pale testaceous; the scale of the peduncle subquadrate, and emarginate aboveWorker major. Length 6 lines.-Coloured like the female, only differing in having the mandibles black; head very large, much wider than the thorax and deeply excavated behind; thorax widest in front, narrowed behind and obliquely truncate at the apex; the scale of the peduncle narrower than in the female, its margin above entire.

Worker minor. Length 5 lines.-Coloured like the large worker, but having the mandibles ferruginous at the apex; slender and elongate; the head oblong-ovate, and slightly emarginate behind; the antenna elongate and slender. Thorax elongate, narrower than the head, widest in front; the scale incrassate, narrow and subconical, its apex somewhat pointed. Abdomen ovate.

Male. Length 4 1/2 lines.-In form resembling the male of F. rufa , in colour agreeing with the other sexes; the head narrower than the thorax, the legs slender and elongate, the tarsi pale rufo-testaceous; scale small, subcornical, and slightly notched above. Abdomen elongate-ovate.

Hab. Port Natal.

Mr. R. W. Plant collected a number of each sex of this species from the nest, constructed in old decaying trees.