Solenopsis

Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum : 177-178

Genus 4. SOLENOPSIS .

Solenopsis , Westw. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 86 (1841).

Head very large, subquadrate, emarginate posteriorly, divided above by a longitudinal central impressed line; eyes small, lateral, placed before the middle. Antennae 10-jointed, short and rather slender, inserted forwards on the head in two deep foveae; the club consisting of two joints. Mandibles very stout, curved, their apex oblique, not toothed. The labial, and also the max- illary palpi, 2-jointed. Thorax much narrower than the head. Abdomen with two nodes at the base, the first compressed, its margin rounded and entire; the second node subglobose; the abdomen ovate, with the base truncate.

The male and female not known.

The characters of this genus are nearly those of the genus Oecophthora with the exception of the number of joints of the antennae, which is 10: in Oecophthora they are 12; in both genera the mandibles are without teeth in the large-headed indi- viduals (soldiers). The club of the flagellum is only 2-jointed in the present genus: in Oecophthora it has 3 joints.