Polyrhachis aciculatus

44. Polyrhachis aciculatus. Pl. IV. figs. 17,18. B.M.

Worker. Length 2 1/4 lines.-Head and thorax obscurely purple, abdomen bright purple. Head and thorax above, longitudinally rugose; the mandibles short and stout, obliquely truncated at the apex, the truncation with four short teeth; the mandibles longitudinally striated, their apex obscurely rufo-piceous; the head and scape of the antennae sprinkled with longish black hairs. Thorax slightly convex above; the division between the meso- and metathorax marked by a deep suture, that between the pro- and mesothorax slightly marked; the thorax narrowed to the base of the metathorax, the lateral margins of the latter rounded, all the margins crenulated; the thorax and legs sprinkled with erect black hairs; the scale of the abdomen incrassate, prolonged laterally into an acute spine, the abdomen sprinkled with fine black, erect hairs.

Hab. Philippine Islands.