Polyrhachis scutulatus

7. Polyrhachis scutulatus.

P. niger, fortiter politus et lucidus, metathorace petiolique squamula dente longo curvato acuto in latere utroque, pedibus nigro-ferrugineis.

Worker. Length 2 3 / 4 lines. Black and very smooth and shining; the legs dark ferruginous. Thorax: the disk expanded, slightly convex above, with the margins acute and curving upwards; the anterior margin transverse, rather wider than the head, with the lateral angles slightly curved forwards, and very acute; the lateral margins of the prothorax curved backwards and inwards; the margins of the mesothorax are rounded; the pro- and mesothorax highly polished above, forming an escutcheon-shaped disk; the metathorax opake, and sprinkled with a few short glittering hairs, armed posteriorly with two long very acute spines, divergent and directed backwards. Abdomen globose; the scale of the petiole with two long curved acute spines, directed backwards to the curve of the abdomen.

Hab. Aru.