THE LARVAL AND EGG STAGES OF THE PRIMITIVE ANT NOTHOMYRMECIA MACRO PS CLARK (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

Abstract

The egg, and mature, young and very young larval stages of Nothomyrmecia macrops (subfamily Nothomyrmeciinae) are described and illustrated with line drawings and scanning electron micrographs. All stages closely resemble those of the genus Myrmecia F. (subfamily Myrmeciinae), supporting the evidence from studies of adults that Nothomyrmecia Clark and Myrmecia share many primitive formicid attributes, though neither supporting nor challenging the hypothesis that they represent generalised survivors of the earliest diverging stocks of two separate lineages important in ant evolution. Copyright © 1980, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved