Length 10 lines.-Black with a blue tinge: head subquadrate, eyes small; mandibles large, strongly dentate; thorax globose in front, compressed laterally in the middle; the node of the abdomen thick, compressed at the sides, rounded in front, and truncate posteriorly; the legs elongate, the anterior tarsi with rufescent pile beneath.
Ponera grandis, Guer. Voy. Coq. Zool. ii. 206 [[queen]],
Hab. Brazil.
[[ worker ]]. Reddish brown, head darker, mandibles, antennae, and legs lighter. Whole body clothed with sparse yel] ow pubescence, more abundant on gaster.
Head subquadrate, sides slightly rounded, posterior angles rounded, posterior border almost straight, sculpture rather closely and finely rugous; mandibles long, triangular, with a row of punctures along masticatory border near teeth, masticatory border armed with eight teeth, the apical one being long and pointed; clypeus narrow, transverse, anterior border very slightly emarginate in centre, sinuate at sides; frontal carinae short, flat, with a double lobe in front covering the insertion of the antennae, convergent behind; frontal furrow narrow and rather faint, separating the frontal carinae; antennae 12 - jointed, scape not quite reaching posterior border of head, funiculus gradually increasing in breadth to apex and not forming a distinct club, last joint pointed, as long as the two preceding taken together; eyes small, consisting of only eight ommatidia, situated before middle of sides of head. Thorax longer than broad, broader in front than behind; pronotum large, transverse, convex, puncturation not so close as on head, encircling mesonotum; suture between pro- and mesonotum deep and rather wide; mesonotum convex, transverse, much shorter than pronotum; suture between meso- and epinotum obsolete, represented by a shallow furrow; epinotum long, slightly constricted at sides, dorsal surface less closely punctured than pro- and mesonotum, longer than declivity, angle between dorsal surface and declivity well marked, declivity triangular, flat, smooth; node of petiole high, bluntly pointed above, anterior surface slightly concave, posterior surface flat, sculpture as in epinotum. Gaster rather long, subparallel, basal surface slightly concave, suture between post-petiole and rest of gaster well marked.
Long. 5.5 mm.
Described from a single worker: Yen Bay, Tonkin. Collected in a nest of termites by Prof. F. Silvestri.
