Mycocepurus smithi Forel trinidadensis, Neal A. Weber, University of North Dakota, 1936

Neal A. Weber, University of North Dakota, 1936, The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part. I. New forms. 1, Revista de Entomologia 7, pp. 378-409 : 378-379

Mycocepurus smithi Forel trinidadensis , var. nov. (Fig. 1)

Worker: Length 1.7-1.9 mm. - Compared with the original description and redescriptions and figures of Dr. W. M. Wheeler and Dr. Santschi and with a worker taken by myself on the island of St. Lucia, next island to the north

1) Many of these new forms were taken while I was the recipient of a National Research Council Fellowship in Biology with headquarters at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, B. W. I. I am also indebted to the late Dr. W. M. Wheeler for aid in the determination of ants, particularly for determining many while I was living in Trinidad. My thanks are due Major J. F. Phipps, R. E., Chief Commissioner of the British Section of the British Guiana-BrazilSurinam Boundary Commission, for his kindness in affording me transportation by boat to the Commission Base Camp on the Oronoque River, British Guiana, in a region uninhabited and practically unexplored.

Female: Length about 3.5 mm. - Similar to the worker, with the usual sexual differences. Dorsolaterally the pronotum bears on each side a pair of acute tubercles whose bases are confluent and the more posterior is the larger. Scutum in profile gently convex, from above slightly impressed medially, rugulose with finer reticulations between. Epinotal spines large and acute with stout bases, slightly diverging when viewed from above. Postpetiole from above roughly hexagonal with sides acutely angulate, 1.7 times as wide as long. Sculpturing heavier than in worker, color dark ferruginous with ferruginous appendages.

Described from one colony taken by myself June 23, 1935, in the Northern Range north of Arima, Trinidad, B. W. I., at an elevation of about 1800 feet. The species Js widely distributed in Trinidad but local and I have taken it in such representative localities as St. Augustine, Mayaro Bay, and Basin Holl Forest Reserve. The workers show sufficient variation to make identification uncertain without a knowledge of all three castes of the described varieties. To the distribution of this species may be added Antigua, B. W. I., (H. E. Box) and the Indian village of Apura on the Courantyne River, Surinam, by myself.