Solenopsis japonica

Japanese Name

Tofushi-ari

Wheeler, W.M. (1928) Ants collected by Professor F. Silvestri in Japan and Korea. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia generale e agraria del R. Istituto Superiore agrario di Portici 22: 96-125.

Solenopsis fugax var. japonica Wheeler (Wheeler, 1928) , Solenopsis japonica Wheeler (Collingwood, 1976) , Diplorhoptrum fugax var. japonicum (Wheeler) (Onoyama, 1980) ,

Worker caste weakly dimorphic. Total length of workers around 1.5 mm. Body yellow to yellowish brown. Head rectangular, about 1.35 times as long as wide. Antennal scapes short, not reaching posterior margin of head. Eyes small, each consisting of 2 to 4 facets. Dorsal outline of mesosoma weakly convex; metanotal groove deeply incised dorsally. Propodeum weakly convex; posterodorsal corner forming an obtusely rounded angle. Ventral margin of petiole almost straight, at most very weakly convex. Head, mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole with short, sparse, erect hairs. All body surfaces smooth and shining.

S. japonica was first described by Wheeler (1928) as S. fugax var. japonica. Ogata (1991) later raised japonica to species rank. The nests of this thief ant are connected to those of other ant species by narrow galleries which are used by the S. japonica workers to steal food from their hosts. Yamaguchi & Hasegawa (1990) suggested that this species could be a predator of soil insects.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Tsushima I., Kyushu, Yaku I., Tokara Is; Korean Peninsula.