Ponera maxillosa

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 93

35. Ponera maxillosa . B.M.

Worker. Length 3 lines.-Black: antennae, mandibles and legs ferruginous; sometimes the head and thorax fusco-ferruginous, others with the coxae and scape of the antennae fuscous; opake and subpunctate. Head subquadrate, wider than the thorax or abdomen; eyes ovate, placed before the middle on the sides of the head; mandibles elongate, curved, of nearly equal thickness throughout, not toothed. Thorax narrowed behind, the metathorax obliquely truncate and slightly concave. Abdomen strangulated between the first and second segments; the apical margins of the segments rufo-piceous; the terminal segment rufo-testaceous; the node of the peduncle incrassate, rounded above, elevated to the height of the first segment.

Male. Length 2 3/4 lines.-Black and slightly shining, finely punctured: eyes and ocelli very large, the latter glassy bright and very prominent; the legs and antennae fusco-ferruginous; the antennae towards their apex, the articulations of the legs, the tarsi, and tip of the abdomen, ferruginous; wings fuscohyaline; abdomen and node of the peduncle as in the female.

Hab. Mauritius. (Coll. Dr. Beke.)