family

FORMICIDAE

subfamily

Ponerinae


Children

Amblyopone fulvida
Amblyopone silvestrii
Amblyopone caliginosa
Amblyopone sakaii


Key to Species

Worker Ants


ITIS

 

Amblyopone

Hymenoptera On-Line

 

Amblyopone

FORMIS

 

Amblyopone

CSIRO

  Amblyopone



genus

Amblyopone


Display Mode

Shape
Real Size
(1.5x)
Japanese Name

Nokogiri-hariari-zoku

Original Reference

Erichson, W.F. (1842) Beitrag zur Insecten-Fauna von Vandiemensland, mit besonderer BerYNcksichtigung der geographischen Verbreitung der Insecten. Archiv fYNr Naturgeschichte 8: 83-287.

Synonym

Stigmatomma Roger, 1859, Neoamblyopone Wheeler, W. M., 1927, Protamblyopone Wheeler, W. M., 1927, Artropus Provancher, 1881, Ericapelta Kusnezov, 1955, Lithomyrmex Clark, 1928, Amblyopopona Schulz, 1906, Amblyopopone Dalla Torre, 1893

Description

Total length of workers ranging from around 1 to 10 mm. Eyes reduced. Petiole attached broadly to gaster. Mandibles slender and long; internal margins with teeth or denticles set in one or two rows. Anterior clypeal margin usually with a number of denticles (sometimes only several) arranged in a transverse row. Antennae 7, 10, 11 or 12 segmented.

Remarks

Amblyopone species are usually active beneath the ground. They nest in rotting logs and other fallen decaying wood, rotting stumps, or in the soil, sometimes under stones. They prey upon subterranean arthropods (in some cases especially on geophilid centipedes), or those resident in rotting wood. The genus is widely distributed globally, except for the arctic and Antarctic zones. There are about 60 described species, and a number of undescribed forms are known in collections. Four species are present in Japan: A. caliginosa Onoyama, A. fulvida Terayama, A. sakaii Terayama, and A. silvestrii (Wheeler). Japanese collection records for species other than A. silvestrii are scarce.

References

  • Roger, J. 1859. Beitr?ge zur Kenntniss der Ameisenfauna der Mittelmeerl?nder. I. Berl. Entomol. Z., 3: 225-259.
  • Wheeler, W. M. 1927. Ants of the genus Amblyopone Erichson. Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., 62: 1-29.
  • Brown, W. L., Jr. 1949. A new American Amblyopone, with notes on the genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche, 56: 81-88.
  • Brown, W. L., Jr. 1960. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. III. Tribe Amblyoponini (Hymenoptera). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 122: 143-230.
  • Provancher, L. 1881. Faune canadienne. Les insectes?\Hym?nopt?res. Naturaliste Canadien, 12: 193-207.
  • Provancher, L. 1887. Fam. 10?\Les Formicides (pp. 224-249). In Additions et Corrections au Volume 2 de la Faune Entomologique du Canada, traitant des Hym?nopt?res, 477 pp. Qu?bec.
  • Kusnezov, N. 1955. Zwei neue Ameisengattungen aus Tucuman (Argentinien). Zool. Anz., 154: 268-277.
  • Clark, J. 1928. Australian Formicidae. J. R. Soc. West. Aust., 14: 29-41.
  • Schulz, W. A., 1906. Spolia hymenopterologica. 355 pp. Junfermannsche Buchhandlung, Paderborn.
  • Bolton, B. (1994). Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. Harvard University Press, 222 pp.

Editor

Original text by Keiichi Onoyama. Revised by Masashi Yoshimura. English translation by Keiichi Onoyama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.