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species
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Leptothorax kubira
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Japanese Name
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Chairo-muneboso-ari
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Original Reference
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Terayama, M. & K. Onoyama (1999) The ant genus Leptothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera; Formicidae) in Japan. Memoirs of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 71-97.
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Description
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Total length of workers around 2.5 - 3 mm. Body color reddish brown to brown; in some individuals the head and gaster are darker than the mesosoma, grading brown to blackish brown; legs yellow. Antennal scapes long, reaching posterior margin of head in full face view. Metanotal groove usually distinctly incised dorsally; obscure in some individuals. Dorsum of propodeum straight. Propodeal spines narrowly triangular, longer than the distance between them in dorsal view. Petiolar node triangular, subpetiolar process present but small.
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Remarks
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This species inhabits mountainous regions and is known from about 600 m to 2,000 m above sea level in central Honshu (Kinomura et al., 1982), and from 1,300 - 1,900 m on Yaku Island (Terayama & Yamane, 1984). There are several variant forms, known repsectively from Hokkaido, Honshu and Yaku Island, which we treat here as geographical variants of the single species L. kubira. Further comparative studies are needed to assess possible alternative taxonomic relationships.
This species corresponds to Leptothorax sp. 8 in Myrmecological Society of Japan Editorial Committee (1992).
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Distribution
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Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Yaku I.
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References
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- Kinomura, K., K. Gotou, M. Kasugai & K. Yamauchi (1982). Ants of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. . In ""Insects of Gifu PrefectureJapan"". , 121-136, 431-444. .
- Terayama, M. & Sk. Yamane (1984). Ants of Yaku-shima Island, the northern Ryukyus, with reference to there altitudial distribution (Insecta: Hymenoptera). InIn "Conservation reports of the Yaku-shima wilderness area, Kyushu, Japan" (pp. 643-667). Nature Conservation Bureau, Environment Agency of Japan.
- Terayama, M. & K. Onoyama (1999). The ant genus Leptothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera; Formicidae). Memoris of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 71-97.
- Myrmecological Society of Japan, Editorial Committee (ed.) (1992). A guide for the identification of Japanese ants (III). Myrmicinae and suppliment to Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). 94pp. The Myrmecological Society of Japan, Tokyo.
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Editor
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Original text by Mamoru Terayama, Keiichi Onoyama, and Masaaki Morisita. English translation by Mamoru Terayama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.
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