Myrmica simillima ^HNS.

Myrmica simillima, Nyland ^HNS. MSS.

Worker (length 3 / 4 - 1 line). Head and thorax pale ferruginous, the legs and antennae more pallid, the coxae a little coloured, the eyes black; the abdomen is rufo- fuscous, pale towards the apex; the head is evenly longitudinally striate; the thorax above is without the usual transverse suture, but is a little compressed at the sides about the middle, and gradually slightly narrowed from the prothorax towards the nodes of the peduncle; the metathorax is truncate at the apex, and the spines are short, broad, and acute; the abdomen is furnished with a few scattered erect hairs.

This species is very much like M. tuberum ^HNS, being of the same size, and resembling some specimens closely in its colour; the Sculpture is however different.

Hab. - Dorset.