Phrynoponera transversa Bolton & Fisher 2008
Gabon
Barry Bolton and Brian Fisher have revised the African ponerine genus Phrynoponera, in a monograph appearing today in Zootaxa. Phrynoponera are stout, heavily-armored predatory ants comprising a handful of poorly known species. Bolton and Fisher describe two new species, P. pulchella and P. transversa, to bring the tally of known species to five.
Source: Bolton, B. and B. F. Fisher. 2008. The Afrotropical ponerine ant genus Phrynoponera Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1892: 35-52.
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Neat looking spines. I've actually wondered something about preparing these specimens. How do they extend the stinger?
I suspect they didn't do anything- some ants just die with the stinger extruded.
One thing they probably did do was preserve the specimen in 90-100% ethanol, which makes the ant stiff enough to arrange its legs into a desired position (away from the body) without the legs springing back.