Cerapachys daikoku

Japanese Name

Kuro-kubire-hari-ari

Terayama, M. (1996) Taxonomic studies of the Japanese Formicidae, part 2. Seven genera of Ponerinae, Cerapachyinae and Myrmicinae. Nature and Human Activities, 1, 9-32.

Total length of workers around 3 mm. Body color black. Antennae 12-segmented. Body surface sparsely covered with punctures with smooth, shining interspaces; hairs yellowish. Eyes large, about 1/3 the length of head in diameter, situated anteriorly. Lateral areas anterior to eyes each with a longitudinal groove. Pronotum marginate anteriorly. Hind coxa with a small vertical lamella dorsally. Petiole broad, flat above, with angulate anterior corners. Second gastral segment shorter than total length of petiole + 1st gastral segment.

Very rare. An apparently undescribed species belonging to the group formerly assigned to genus Lioponera (now a synonym of Cerapachys). Other "Lioponera" species are known to be arboreal, nesting in hollow twigs.

Honshu (Izu Peninsula [Rikio Sonobe, Toshiyuki Sato, and Haruhiko Sakai leg.]).