Myrmecina urbanii

Nests in leaf litter. It forages individually and has the ability to hide swiftly within the litter.

Identification
Tiwari (1994) - This species is similar to M. striata Emery (1890) in having colour pattern of the body, pilosity and pubescence, placement of the eye, scape reaching up to the top of the head; but it differs with the same in having following characters: transverse striations on alitrunk, 'Y’-shaped striation on meso- and metanotum, mesonotum armed with a pair of small acute spines and bead longer than broad.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India.

Nomenclature

 *  urbanii. Myrmecina urbanii Tiwari, 1994: 152, fig. 1 a-d (w.) INDIA.

Worker
Head and alitrunk dark reddish-brown; antennae and pedicel paler; legs brownish yellow; abdomen dark brown, laterally and apically brownish yellow. Body fairly densely hairy; mandibles fairly hairy; clypeus with a few long anteriorly directed hairs.

Head capsule sub-squarish, deeply emarginate at posterior margin; postero-lateral angles rounded; dorsal surface longitudinally striated, sides weakly convex. Clypeus bicarinate and tridentate, carinae fused,with postero-lateral ridges. Eyes small (0·05 mm in diameter), round to oval, situated antero-laterally in front of middle of head and surrounded by paler area. Mandibles smooth, hairy; masticatory margins with three teeth, molar plate with a number of round crenulations. Antennae 12-segmented; scape shorter than flagellum, reaching almost upto the bind margin of the head or weakly extending beyond; 1st segment of flagellum longer than succeeding segments; club formed of 3 segments, apical segment of club longer than its two preceeding segments put together.

Alitrunk convex above, triangular, gradually tapering posteriorly; pronotum striated transversely; meso and metanotum with posteriorly converging longitudinal striae, forming a distinct 'Y' shaped structur-e at its base ; anterior margin of pronotum round with narrow, rectangular collar; pro-meso and meso-metanotal sutures somewhat discernible laterally; pronotum armed with a small spine on each antero-lateral corner, spines directed downwards; mesonotum armed with a pair of small acute spines, thick at base and situated at the postero-lateral end of the mesonotum; metanotum armed with a pair of long spines directed outwards and slightly bent upwards at tips. Legs long; fore tibia with a pectinate spur, pectination visible only under high power; tarsi 5-jointed, with a pair of claws at the tip, 1st joint longer than succeeding joints put together. Pedicel 2-jointed; 1st joint of pedicel longer than broad, fiat dorsally and with weak longitudinal striae; 2nd joint broader than long, coarsely striated, attached to the emarginated anterior end of abdomen.

Gaster broadly oval, truncated anteriorly to enclose the posterior end of post petiolar node ; smooth, in profile rounded beneath.

Type Material
Holotype: 1 worker. India: Kerala: Thekkadi (2500 ft.), March, 1969 (colt. No. 029/4), coil. O.B. Chhotani and R.N. Tiwari. Paratype: 1 worker, same data as of Holotype.

Etymology
The species is named in Honour of eminent Myrmecoloaist Dr. C.B. Urbani.