Appearance
The soldiers have antennae with 13 – 14 articles and the length of the head ranges between 1.25 – 1.50 mm. The head and abdomen segments are pigmented dark in contrast to the conspicuously yellowish thorax, matching the coloration of workers. Soldiers of this species molt from sclerotized worker-like forms which are slightly smaller than the actual workers but otherwise appear to behave no differently. The head of the presoldier form measures between 0.839 – 0.887 mm while workers range between 0.936 – 1.036 mm. The slit-shaped fontanelle of the presoldier form is also larger and more defined. During the molt the third and fourth antenna segments fuse and all antenna segments post-molt are more elongated than in the presoldier worker-like form.The imago of this species has a brownish black, broadly oval head capsule which is sparsely covered by long hair. The fontanelle is slit-shaped and forks at the tip. The antennae consists of 15 segments with the second article equal in length to the fourth; third article is more than double the length of the 2nd article. Eyes and ocelli are large and the postclypeus is black brown with no distinct median line. The wings are a dark smokey color and the venation is conspicuous. Length with wings included is 17 – 19 mm, body length excluding wings is between 8 – 10 mm.
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