Ectatomma aciculata

5. Ectatomma aciculata. B.M.

Worker. Length 5 lines.-Black: the mandibles, legs and abdomen obscurely ferruginous; the head closely covered with large coarse shallow punctures, which run into diverging striae on the vertex; the head truncate behind. Thorax elongate, with distant shallow punctures; the node of the abdomen incrassate and subconical. Abdomen: the first and second segments transversely and delicately aciculate.

Hab. Australia; Hunter River.

This species very closely resembles E. punctata, of which it may possibly be an extreme variety; but, independent of the difference in the sculpture of the abdomen, the head is rather longer behind the eyes, the thorax is much more sparingly punctured, and the node of the peduncle has no deeply impressed line.