Polyrhachis lauta

Nothing is known about the biology of .

Identification
A member of the Polyrhachis militaris species-group. Bolton (1973) - The presence of the facial pit and groove situated just lateral of the antennal socket, and this character coupled with the general body form, fine sculpturation and shape of petiolar spines linked the females to a series of fissa-like workers in the BMNH collection. The species is the closest known relative of fissa, differing from it by the presence of a facial groove, intensity and direction of sculpturation and form of petiolar spines.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Cameroun, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Uganda.

Nomenclature

 *  lauta. Polyrhachis lauta Santschi, 1910c: 397, fig. 19 (q.) CONGO. Bolton, 1973b: 311 (w.). Combination in P. (Myrma): Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 997. Senior synonym of laeta, localis: Bolton, 1973b: 311.
 * localis. Polyrhachis lauta var. localis Forel, 1913h: 359 (q.) DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO. Junior synonym of lauta: Bolton, 1973b: 311.
 * laeta. Polyrhachis (Myrma) lauta var. laeta Emery, 1921e: 22 (q.) CAMEROUN. Junior synonym of lauta: Bolton, 1973b: 311.

Worker
Bolton (1973) - TL 5.5-6.2, HL 1.29-1.62, HW 1.22-1.54, CI 94-95, SL 1.29-1.54, SI 100-106, PW 0.93-1.29, MTL 1.18-1.52. (6 measured.)

Anterior clypeal margin arcuate and entire; posterior clypeal suture very faint, almost invisible. A short, longitudinal, shallow groove terminating in a depression present close to the outer margin of the antennal socket. Eyes weakly convex, sides of head in front of eyes strongly convergent. Behind the eyes the sides rounding into the very broad and convex occipital margin. Alitrunk marginate throughout its length, interrupted only at the sutures. Promesonotal suture incised; metanotal groove deeply impressed. Pronotum armed with a pair of broad, flattened spines; propodeum with a pair of short, upcurved spines. Lateral marginations of the propodeum divergent posteriorly in dorsal view. Pronotal and mesonotal dorsa convex, the propodeum very similar in shape to that of fissa. In profile the anterior portion of the propodeum rises almost vertically from the metanotal groove, passes through a strong dorsal convexity and slopes steeply to the propodeal spines. Petiole with two pairs of spines, the lateral notably longer than the dorsal pair; the latter strongly recurved or hooked apically. Anterior face of first gastral segment concave medially.

Standing hairs sparse, present on the dorsum of the bead, pronotum and mesonotum, absent from the antennal scapes, propodeum, petiole and first gastral segment.

Head and gaster very finely, superficially reticulate. Dorsal surfaces of alitrunk extremely finely, densely, longitudinally striate. Colour black, the apical funicular segments yellow-brown, the legs black or black-brown.

Queen
Bolton (1973) - As worker, resembling it in all respects except for modifications associated with differences in caste. The propodeum in the female is strongly transversely concave between the spines in dorsal view. The entire body is sculptured with a fine superficial reticulation.

Type Material
Bolton (1973) - Holotype queen, CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE): Brazzaville (A. Weiss) (NM) [examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bolton B. 1973. The ant genus Polyrhachis F. Smith in the Ethiopian region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 28: 283-369.
 * Robson Simon Database Polyrhachis -05 Sept 2014
 * Santschi F. 1910. Formicides nouveaux ou peu connus du Congo français. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 78: 349-400.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 711-1004