Pseudomyrmex gracilis (Fabricius 1804) .

Formica gracilis Fabricius 1804: 405 .

Leptalea gracilis (Fabricius) . Erichson 1839: 309.

Pseudomyrma gracilis (Fabricius) . Roger 1862b: 289.

Pseudomyrma (Clavanoda) gracilis (Fabricius) . Enzmann 1944: 61.

Pseudomyrma gracilis var. atrinoda Santschi 1934: 26 . NEW SYNONYMY. [holotype w examined, NHMB; Rio Negro, Paraná, Brazil (Reichensperger)].

Pseudomyrmex gracilis (Fabricius) . Kusnezov 1953: 214.

Pseudomyrmex gracilis var. atrinoda (Santschi) . Kempf 1958: 434. Pseudomyrmex gracilis var. atrinodus (Santschi) . Kempf 1972: 219.

Ants in the Pseudomyrmex gracilis species complex are ubiquitous in the neotropics, and the species P. gracilis itself presents a confusing array of variation (Ward 1989). Santschi distinguished his variety P. atrinodus on the basis of small size and light coloration on parts of the mesosoma, but I have examined the type material and in both these characters P. atrinodus is well within the normal range of variation of the species. Phil Ward, who is revising Pseudomyrmex, concurs with this synonymy (Ward, pers comm.)