family

FORMICIDAE

subfamily

Myrmicinae

genus

Leptothorax

ITIS
 

Leptothorax spinosior

Hymenoptera On-Line
 

Leptothorax spinosior

FORMIS
 

Leptothorax spinosior



species

Leptothorax spinosior
Japanese Name

Harinaga-muneboso-ari
Original Reference

Forel, A. (1901) Variˇtˇs myrmˇcologiques. Annales de la Sociˇtˇ Entomologique de Belgique 45: 334-382.
Synonym

Leptothorax congruus var. spinosior Forel (Forel, 1901) , Leptothorax (Leptothorax) congruus var. spinosior Forel (Emery, 1922) , Leptothorax (Myrafant) congruus var. spinosior Forel (Onoyama, 1980) , Leptothorax spinosior Forel (Terayama & Satoh, 1990) ,

Description

Total length of workers around 2 mm. Body color black to blackish brown. Antennal scapes almost reaching posterior margin of head in full face view. Dorsal outline of mesosoma weakly and evenly convex in profile. Metanotal groove incised dorsally. Propodeal spines long, acute and narrow; somewhat downcurved. Petiolar node triangular in profile, with weakly convex posterior margin (almost straight in some specimens).
Remarks

L. spinosior is found in dry open areas, such as grasslands and bare places. It nests in the soil. Workers are usually found on the ground, seldom on trees. There is a queen body-size dimorphism in this species (Hamaguchi & Kinomura, 1996). Nuptial flights occur in July (Sonobe, 1980). The chromosome number is 2n = 24 (Imai & Yoshida, 1965).
Earlier records under this name might include some other species.

Distribution

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Yaku I.; Korean Peninsula.
References

  • Sonobe, R. (1980a. ). Ants living in gardens (1) - Ants creaping on the ground-. . Insect (Kontyu-Aiko-Kai, Tochigi-ken), 31(1), 1-9. .
  • Imai & Yoshida , 1965
  • Variˇtˇs myrmˇcologiques. Annales de la Sociˇtˇ Entomologique de Belgique 45: 334-382.
  • Emery, C. (1922). Hymenoptera, fam. Formicidae, subfam. Myrmicinae. . In P. Wytsman, ed., ""Genera Insectorum"", fasc. , 174B-C, 95-397, .
  • Onoyama, K. (1980). An introduction to the ant fauna of Japan, with a check list (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). . Kontyu, 48, 193-212.
  • Terayama, M. & T. Satoh (1990b. ). Taxonomic notes on two Japanese species of Formicidae (Hymenoptera). . Jpn. J. Ent., 58, 532.
  • Hamaguchi, K. and K. Kinomura (1996). Queen-size dimorphism in the facultatively polygynous ant Leptotohrax spinosior (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiologiy 27: 241-251.

Editor

Original text by Mamoru Terayama, Keiichi Onoyama, and Masaaki Morisita. English translation by Mamoru Terayama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.