Ponera nitidula Emery ^HNS.

Chiapas, soil. This is a handsome black ant displaying often quite brilliant satiny blue metallescence. A greasy specimen from Guatemala in the Wheeler Collection shows none of this blue reflection, and Emery did not mention it in the original description. The habitus is quite different from that of species like Ponera opaciceps Mayr ^HNS, and Ponera trigona Mayr ^HNS, and it would not be surprising if Ponera nitidula ^HNS were eventually shown to represent part of a distinct subgenus.