Smith Collection

The Smith Collection is a collection of type specimens of Japanese ants prepared by Frederick Smith. In 1874, he published a paper dealing with hymenoptera cought by the English tea merchant, George Lewis, in the vicinity of Kobe at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate. His paper referred to 11 new species of ants. Because the type specimen for one species (Camponotus vitiosus) is missing, we (Kubota and Imai) took color photographs of the type specimens of the remaining 10 species of ants and measured each part of the body of these ants.

Reference:

Smith, F. (1874): Descriptions of new species of Tenthredinidae, Ichneumonidae, Chnysididae, Formicidae, etc. of Japan. Trans. Ent. Soc. London 373-409.

Type specimens:

Stored by the Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.

Site of origin:

The vicinity of Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.

Features of specimens:

Of the ants included in this collection, 2 are soldier ants of the Pheidole genus, and the others are worker ants. The ants are attached by glue (like gum arabic) to rectangles of brown paper. The colors of the bodies have faded slightly and become soiled by dust. The body of one species (Polyrhachis lamellidens) is partially destroyed. However, no ants have become moldy or been eaten by insects. These specimens are therefore still useful for study. A round label indicating "type specimen" (8 mm in diameter) is attached with an insect pin, as are the other labels.

Measurement of body parts

Because the thorax is covered by excess glue and/or the legs are hyper-extended, size measurement was not possible for all parts of all specimens. The sizes of body parts which could be measured or estimated are shown below. All sizes are shown in units of mm.

(Abbreviations)

  • HL: head length (excluding the mandible)
  • HW: head width (measured behind the compound eye)
  • SL: length of the scape of the antenna
  • EL: maximum diameter of the compound eye
  • WL: length of the thoracic area (including the propodeum) as measured using the Weber's method
  • AW: maximum width of the thoracic area
  • PL: length of the petiole
  • PPL: length of the posterior petiole
  • TL: total length (from the tip of the mandible to the end of the abdomen, excluding the stinger

1. Polyrhachis lamellidens ( TOGEARI ) JFC 81104 Syntype. -> Type No.

HL=2.18,HW=1.95,SL=2.60,EL=0.43,WL=2.85,AW=1.47,TL=8.84.

2. Paratrechina flavipes ( AMEIROARI ) JFC 80501 (called Tapinoma flavipes in the original paper) Lectotype -> Type No.

HL=0.54,HW=0.47,SL=0.60,EL=0.12,WL=0.62,AW=0.33,TL=2.08.

3. Brachyponera chinensis ( OOHARIARI ) JFC 10701 (called Ponera solitaria in the original paper) Syntype. -> Type No.

HL=4.10,HW=0.84,SL=0.86,EL=0.18,WL=1.38,AW=0.62,TL=4.10.

4. Messor aciculatus ( KURONAGAARI ) JFC 40501 (called Aphaenogaster aciculata in the original paper) Syntype. -> Type No.

HL=1.33,HW=1.38,SL=1.18,EL=0.27,WL=1.89,AW=1.03,TL=5.45.

5. Aphaenogaster famelica ( ASINAGAARI ) JFC 40401 (called Ischnomyrmex famelicus in the original paper) Holotype. -> Type No.

HL=1.62,HW=1.30,SL=1.93,EL=0.32,WL=2.27,AW=0.86,PL=0.70,PPL=0.63,TL=6.80.

6. Leptothorax congruus ( MUNEBOSOARI ) JFC 40703 Holotype. -> Type No.

HL=0.67,HW=0.55,SL=0.48,EL=0.15,WL=0.78,AW=0.38,PL=0.28,PPL=0.20,TL=2.60.

7. Monomorium intrudens ( HIMEARI ) JFC 41105 Holotype. -> Type No.

HL=0.43,HW=0.35,SL=0.32,EL=0.05,WL=0.48,AW=0.22,PL=0.17,PPL=0.09,TL=1.70.

8. Pheidole fervida ( AZUMAOOZUARI ) JFC 40602 Syntype. (Soldier) -> Type No.

HL=1.12,HW=1.26,SL=0.65,EL=0.17,AW=0.60.
(the thoracic and abdominal regions have been damaged and cannot be measured)

9. Pheidole nodus ( OOZUARI ) JFC 40605 Syntype (Soldier) -> Type No.

HL=1.47,HW=1.64,SL=1.00,EL=0.23,WL=1.36,AW=0.73,TL=5.30.

10. Crematogaster laboriosa ( TUYASIRIAGEARI ) JFC 42101 Syntype. -> Type No.

HL=0.76,HW=0.74,SL=0.61,EL=0.18,WL=0.86,AW=0.45,TL=3.01.