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genus
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Rhopalomastix
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Japanese Name
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Higebuto-ari-zoku
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Original Reference
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Forel, A. (1900) Un nouveau genre et une nouvelle espŽce de myrmicide. Annales de la SociŽtŽ Entomologique de Belgique 44: 24-26.
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Description
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Small ants: total length of workers around 1.5 - 3 mm. Antennae 10-segmented; scapes short, less than two-thirds as long as the head is wide; funiculi flattened, terminal segment large and broad. Frontal lobes closely adjacent. Dorsum of mesosoma flat; metanotal groove lacking. Petiolar node high; subpetiolar process present. Postpetiole broadly connected to gaster. Legs short and stout; femora and tibiae flattened.
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Remarks
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Rhopalomastix is a component of the tribe Melissotarsini, along with the genus Melissotarsus, which has four Afrotropical species (Bolton, 1982). Four species of Rhopalomastix have been reported from the Oriental region. Both genera nest under the bark of trees. Rhopalomastix was recently recorded from Japan (Terayama, 1985), and one species, R. omotoensis, was described by Terayama (1996).
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References
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- Terayama, M. (1985). New records of ants from the Nansei Islands, Japan. . Ari , (13), 8.
- Terayama, M. (1996). Taxonomic studies of the Japanese Formicidae, part 2. Seven genera of Ponerinae, Cerapachyinae and Myrmicinae. Nature and Human Activities, 1, 9-32.
- Bolton, B. (1982). Afrotropical species of the myrmicine ant genera Cardiocondyla, Leptothorax, Melissotarsus, Messor and Cataulacus (Formicidae). . Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Ent.), 45, 307-370.
- Un nouveau genre et une nouvelle espŽce de myrmicide. Annales de la SociŽtŽ Entomologique de Belgique 44: 24-26.
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Editor
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Original text by Mamoru Terayama. English translation by Mamoru Terayama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.
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