Leptothorax acervorum

Japanese Name

Takane-muneboso-ari

Fabricius, J.C. (1793) Entomologia Systematica emendata et aucta. Secundum classes, ordines, genera, species adjectis synonimis, locis, observationibus, descriptionibus 2: 519 pp. Hafniae.

Formica acervorum Fabricius (Fabricius, 1793) , Leptothorax acervorum (Fabricius)(Mayr, 1855) ,

Total length of workers around 3 - 3.5 mm. Head and gaster black; mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole reddish brown, their dorsa blackish brown; legs brown. Antennae 11-segmented; scapes short, not reaching posterior margin of head in frontal view. Dorsa of pro- and mesonota depressed in profile. Dorsum of propodeum weakly convex. Propodeal spines longer than wide in side view, with acute tips. Petiolar node high, triangular; anterior margin sloping steeply forwards in profile; peduncle obscure.

In Japan this species is distributed in the lowlands of Hokkaido and mountainous areas of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. In central Honshu L. acervorum is found at 1300-2600 m above sea level; at 1920 - 1980 m on Mt. Ishizuchi in Shikoku, and at 1740 m on Mt. Kujyu, Kyushu. Monogynous and polygynous colonies are present, but research indicates that in Japan only one of the colony queens has functional ovaries and lays eggs. Three socially parasitic ant species are known to associate with L. acervorum in Europe, but none of them are yet known to occur in Japan.

Hokkaido, Honshu (mountainous regions), Shikoku (Mt. Ishizuchi), Kyushu (Mt. Kujyu); Sakhalin, Korean Peninsula, Eurasia, North America.