Eurhopalothrix platisquama

The type specimens were collected from Berlese funnel and Winkler bag extractions of leaf rainforest mould.

Identification
Mezger & Pfeiffer (2010) - A cluster of four standing setae on poste-rior section of head, without any other setae on head, characterises this species. Postpetiole bears one pair of setae. Eye with about 18 ommatidia. Scape with two rows of setae, outer row with nine setae, inner row with five setae. Distances between ground pilosity with 6 μm much smaller than in all other species of E. platisquama group, but diameter of foveolae with 29 μm larger than in all other species. Mandible shape similar to that of Eurhopalothrix dubia, 1.7 times as broad as long; masticatory margin with nine teeth.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Malaysia.

Nomenclature

 *  platisquama. Eurhopalothrix platisquama Taylor, 1990b: 417, figs. 30-33, 52 (w.) WEST MALAYSIA.

Worker
General features as illustrated. All Class A attributes present, with those of Class B, unless otherwise indicated. Dimensions (mm): HL 0.76; HW 0.85; CI 112; ML 0.19; MI 25; SL 0.43; SI 50; PW 0.49; WL 0.86. The Cameron Highlands and U. Gombak specimens collectively have HW 0.84-0.85, and those from Liwa 0.82-0.86. Eyes relatively large, each with about 20 facets, maximum diameter approaching that of a funicular club. Occipital border almost straight, transverse (its outline at most minutely curved or sinuate). Petiolar node in dorsal view essentially square, its length and breadth subequal to distinctly but slightly wider than long.

Frons and most dorsal body surfaces, sides of pronotum and undersides of head and gaster covered almost entirely by a ground pilosity of dense, flattened, thoroughly appressed, squamous, shining silvery hairs, which are almost contiguous and fill or overlap the punctures bearing them. These hairs with feathered edges under SEM examination. Specialised hairs well differentiated from the enlarged ground pilosity. Each clavate, barely expanded, though somewhat thick and columnar; 2 pairs only on frons, grouped posteromedially in a tight square array (the hairs spaced by about their average length); one pair (posterolateral) on postpetiole (missing from holotype); lacking elsewhere.

Type Material
Type Locality: W. Malaysia: Pahang/Perak: Cameron Highlands (04°30'N., 101°34'E.). W. Malaysia: Selangor: Ulu Gombak Field Station, 3 paratype workers (B. Bolton, 7.x.73); Pahang/Perak: Cameron Highlands (type locality), 3200 ft, holotype, paratype worker, valley floor, upper dipterocarp forest (D. H. Murphy, 8.viii.1964). Indonesia: Sumatra: Liwa, 9 paratype workers (M. S. Harvey, 5.ix.1984). All specimens from Berlese funnel or Winkler bag extractions of leaf rainforest mould. Holotype in (type No. 7781), gold-palladium coated for SEM study. Paratypes in, , MKUB.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Mezger, D.; Pfeiffer, M. 2010. Eurhopalothrix elke, a new species from Borneo, and a key to the species of the E. platisquama group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 13:133-139.
 * Taylor R. W. 1990. New Asian ants of the tribe Basicerotini, with an on-line computer interactive key to the twenty-six known Indo-Australian species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Invertebrate Taxonomy 4: 397-425.