Pachycondyla darwinii

Japanese Name

Dahwin-hari-ari

Forel, A. (1893) Nouvelles fourmis d'Australie et des Canaries. Annales de la SociŽtŽ Entomologique de Belgique 37: 454-466.

Belonopelta Darwinii Forel (Forel, 1893) , Trachymesopus darwini Wilson (Wilson, 1958) ,

This species was originally described from alate females and there are few known worker/female collections. Terayama (1990) descovered a colony including a single worker in the Ryukyus. The spewcimen is smaller in size (total length ca 4 mm) than females (ca 5 mm), but has the same basic morphoolgy, body color, and number of mandibular teeth. It also lack the basal madibular pits found in other Japanese Pachycondyla species.

P. darwinii is widely distributed from southern Africa, through Southeast Asia to Melanesia and northern Australia. Alate queens are often collected at lights. Japanese distribution is apparently limited to the Ryukyus (Terayama, 1985).

Nansei Is (Okinawa I., Iriomote I.); S. Africa, S. Asia, SE Asia, Melanesia, northern Australia.