Worker. -Body short and stout, somewhat flattened. Head broader behind than in front, convex above with frontal carinae far apart, diverging behind and prolonged backwards us the upper margins of deep scrobes above the eyes for the accommodation of the whole folded antennae. Eyes prominent, placed near the posterior corners of the head; ocelli absent. Clypeus short and steep. Mandibles small and stout, with a few subequal teeth. Antennae 9-jointed, with a large 3-jointed elub; the scapes thickened distally. Thorax short and broad, flattened above, the pro- and mesonotum marginate or lamellately expanded on the sides and behind, forming a disc with spined or toothed anterior corners and with the posterior margin lobed or toothed and overhanging the epinotum, which is very steep or vertical and usually armed with spines. Petiole squamiform, cuneate in profile. Postpetiole with a cuboidal, globose or squamiform node. Gaster large, oval or cordate, emarginate anteriorly at the articulation of the postpetiole. Body usually more or less opaque or subopaque and sculptured, covered with long, abundant and soft or Hexuous hairs.
Female decidedly larger than the worker, with 9-jointed antennae. Thorax stout; pronotum large and exposed above; mesonotum large and convex, rounded on the sides; epinotum unarmed. Fore wings with large pterostigma, a cubital, a discoidal and a closed radial cell.
Male only slightly larger than the worker, rather slender, with 13-jointcd antennae; the scape very short; the first funicular joint globose, the second not much longer than the scape. Head produced behind, with very prominent eyes and ocelli. Antennal scrobes absent. Mesonotum with Mayrian furrows, rounded and unarmed on the sides or behind. Epinotum abrupt, unarmed. Nodes of petiole low. Legs slender. Wings as in the female.
Map 26. Distribution of the genus Meranoplus .
Во Вьетнаме найден один представитель этого своеобразного рода тропиков Ста- рого Света - M. bicolor Guer.: 30 км сев. Хошимина, o. Рай (Покаржевский); 15 км сев. Ан-Кхе (Янушев); o. Aннам, Бана (Медведев); арх. Байтылонг, о. Фонвонг; о.Тям (Радченко).
Ареал A.bicolor охватывает Индостан, Цейлон, Индокитай, Малайзию и Зонд- ские о-ва.
Taxonomy. The genus Meranoplus is assigned to the tribe Meranoplini by Emery (1914a). The Oriental species were revised by Schödl (1998). The worker of the single known Vietnamese species ( M. bicolor ) has the following features.
Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subtrapezoidal, posteroventrally with an acute angle; frontal lobe and frontal carina well developed horizontally, reaching near posterolateral corner of head and overhanging sides of head in frontal view; antennal scrobe extremely deep, running above eye; median portion of clypeus anterolaterally with an angle or denticle; posteromedian portion of clypeus widely inserted between frontal lobes; mandible triangular, with 4 teeth; antenna 9-segmented, with 3-segmented club; eye large and strongly convex laterad, located behind midlength of sides of head in full-face view; mesosoma in lateral view short and high; promesonotum laterally margined with flange which in dorsal view overhangs sides of mesosoma; lateral margin indented at level of promesontal suture; anterolateral corner of promesonotal dorsum forming an acute, laterally projecting tooth; posterolateral corner of dorsum forming a long, posteriorly projecting spine; posterior margin of dorsum forming a translucent lamella between spines; ventral margin of promesonotum forming a lamella which partly covers base of forecoxa; promesonotal suture and metanotal groove absent dorsally; dorsum of propodeum sloping posteriad; propodeal spine well developed as a posterolaterally projecting horn; propodeal lobe poorly developed; petiole in lateral view triangular, without distinct anterior peduncle; subpetiolar process absent; postpetiole in lateral view much higher than long, extremely swollen dorsad; gaster in dorsal view elongate-cordiform. The worker of Meranoplus is easily separated from that of other Vietnamese myrmicine genera by the morphology of head and mesosoma.
Vietnamese species. One species has been recognized by us from Vietnam: bicolor ( Guérin-Méneville ) [sp. eg-1] (Nui Chua, Tam Dao, Pu Mat).
Bionomics. Meranoplus bicolor inhabits bare lands, grasslands and sparse forests, and nests in soil. Workers forage on the ground.
Female. - Length 3 lines. Opaque-black; the scape of the antennae, the base and apex of the flagellum, tips of the femora, the tibiae, the anterior tarsi, and the apical joints of the intermediate and posterior pairs, light ferruginous; the wings flavo-hyaline, the nervures pale rufo-testaceous. Head, thorax and nodes of the peduncle with rugose confluent punctures; the head longer than broad, slightly narrowed before the eyes; the posterior margin of the vertex broadly emarginate. The anterior margin of the prothorax arched; the thorax about the same length as the head, narrowed behind the insertion of the wings; the metathorax with two blunt spines. Abdomen oblong and very finely shagreened; emarginate at the base and rounded at the apex.
Worker. - Only differs from the female in being rather shorter, and in the form of the thorax, as will be seen by the figure; the abdomen shorter, with the sides less parallel.
Male. - Length 2 1 / 2 lines. The colour and sculpture as in the female. Head wider than the thorax, much narrowed before the eyes; the lateral angles of the posterior margin of the vertex subspinosa Thorax anteriorly arched; the mesothorax with two curved, deep, broad channels that curve inwardly and unite at the base of the scutellum; the scutellum, the spines of the metathorax, and the nodes of the peduncle of the abdomen, grooved longitudinally; the wings as in the female; the abdomen subovate, slightly emarginate at the base and pointed at the apex. (Fig. 7, [[ queen ]]; 7 a, [[ male ]]. Pl. XI.)
Hab. - Weenen District, Natal.
This species was discovered by Mr. John Monkhouse Hutchinson, inhabiting the thorns of a species of acacia. Some of the specimens of the workers have the legs more or less ferruginous.
Cryptocerus , pt., Guer. Icon. Reg. Anim. 425.
Meranoplus , Smith, Mon. Crypt. Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 2nd ser. ii. 224 (1853).
