Myrmica sp.5

Japanese Name

Omobiro-kushike-ari

Total length of workers around 5 - 5.5 mm. Body color ochreous to brown. The gaster of foraging workers often appears waxy. Head relatively broad. Antennal scapes rather strongly curved near their bases and a little thickened at the bend. Anterior margin of clypeus straight or slightly concave in the middle, lacking denticles. Rugae on thoracic dorsum rather weak and irregular. Subpetiolar process developed anteriorly. Ventral border of petiole convex in the middle when viewed laterally. Tibial spurs of middle and hind legs small, essentially simple or with a few spines.

This species resembles M. kurokii, but is easily distinguished from it and other species because the ventral border of its petiole is convex in the middle in lateral view, and by the characteristic morphology of the antennal scapes. In the worker, the propodeal spines are long, but in the female they are very small and short, sometimes reduced and merely angulate, to absent. The females are a little smaller than the workers. This species is a temporary parasite of M. jessensis. Myrmica sp. 5 is the "Oo-kushike-ari" of Myrmecological Society of Japan Editorial Committee (1988). A species "Manica sp. 2" (with Japanese name: Tsuya-kushike-ari) was recognized in "Identification Guide III" (Myrmecological Society of Japan, 1992) from a female specimen, which is here identified as Myrmica sp. 5. Myrmica sp. 5 nests under stones and around the roots of trees at rocky sites and in sparse woodlands. Workers forage on the leaves of Sasa bamboos and attend aphids. Nuptial flights occur from September to mid October.

Hokkaido, Honshu (the central part and northwards); Sakhalin, Taiwan.