Williams, F.X.

Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society

ScholarSpace at University of Hawai'i at Manoa

639Stigmatomma (Fulakora) zwaluwenburgi, a New Species ofPonerine Ant from HawaiiBy FRANCIS X. WILLIAMSExperiment Station, H.S.P.A.(Presented at the meeting of September 10,1945)In February 1941, Mr. R. H. Van Zwaluwenburg discoveredfour workers of this ant while searching for tiny hypogaeic carabidbeetles in soil obtained from a field of sugar cane at the ExperimentStation, H.S.P.A., Honolulu. A fifth specimen (the paratype) wastaken by the writer on October 26, 1945 in moist soil from the samefield.Figure 1.—Stigmatomma (Fulakora) zwaluwenburgi, type.Stigmatomma (Fulakora) zwaluwenburgi n. sp.Type: Length 1.80 mm. Head as broad at clypeus as long; occiput shal-lowly concave; fronto-occipital suture not strong; clypeus in front armedwith five rather blunt denticles. Mandibles with the thickened basal portionbearing five simple teeth, the basal one quite small; one subapical denticle.Frontal lobes touching rather narrowly, their carinae feeble and divergingbehind. First and apical funicular joints longer than broad. Eyes wanting.Thoracic dorsum and epinotum flat. Prothorax a little longer than broad,Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, Vol. XII, No. 3, May, 1946.640gently rounded. Promesonotal suture strongly impressed. Mesonotum morethan twice as broad as long, the sides nearly straight. Mesoepinotal sutureindistinct. Epinotum gradually widening from base, about as broad as longto ventral apex, the declivity transverse, generally smooth, the sides stronglymargined. Petiole narrower than first gastric segment, rounded in front andmore slightly so at the sides. Gaster slender, legs stout.Head and thorax sublucid, epinotum and gaster more shining. Mandibleswith some rugae. Head and thorax densely granulose, thoracic dorsum andepinotum with some subobsolete carinulae, gaster with more separate punctures.Color rufo-testaceous, the head a little darker; pilosity whitish.The paratype is approximately 1.75 mm. long from the .apical part of theclypeus; there are four somewhat recurved teeth on the inner side of themandibles, the basal teeth being short. The clypeus has the five bluntly conicalteeth on its margin.Type and paratype in the collection of the Hawaiian Entomological Society.Three of the five specimens collected are not now available.The subgenus Fulakora was erected by Mann for Stigmatomma(Fulakora) celata from the British Solomon Islands. It—"is proposed for those species of Stigmatomma that have the frontal lobesapproximate, instead of widely separated." (The Ants of theBritish Solomon Islands. Bui. Mus. Gomp. Zool., 63 [7] : 279-280,1919).This subgenus has representatives in Australia, New Zealand,Sumatra, Philippines, Hawaii, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, and nodoubt elsewhere.5*. (Fulakora) zzvaluwenburgi differs from its apparently nearestrelatives, S. (Fulakora) celata Mann from the British SolomonIslands and 5. (Fulakora) minuta Forel from Sumatra (Zool.Jahrb. systematik, 36:4-5, 1914) chiefly in having the head quiteas broad as long and in having the clypeus provided in front withfive teeth, Stigmatomma (Fulakora) celata and minuta each havingsix teeth.I take pleasure in naming this species after my colleague, Mr.R. H. Van Zwaluwenburg.It is presumed that this ant is one of the relics of an earlierHawaiian ant fauna of which our representatives are chiefly minuteponerines and which may have survived under unfavorable environment because of their hypogaeic habits. (See Wheeler: RevisedList of Hawaiian Ants. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, OccasionalPapers 10 [21]: 5, 1934).

Stigmatomma (Fulakora) zwaluwenburgi, a New Species of Ponerine Ant from Hawaii

Williams, F. X.

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