Myrmecina nipponica

Japanese Name

Kadofushi-ari

Wheeler, W.M. (1906c) The ants of Japan. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 22: 301-328.

Myrmecina graminicola nipponica Wheeler, 1906c

Total length of workers around 3 mm. General body color black; mesopleuron, petiole and postpetiole reddish brown; legs, antennae and mandibles yellow to yellowish brown. Eyes rather large, each consisting of over 10 facets; the longest diameter as long as or longer than the length of the 10th antennal segment. Bases of antennal scapes simple in structure, without covering lamellae. Anterior margin of clypeus with a small median process which varies in size. Propodeal spines more or less upwardly curved. Subpetiolar process obscure. Head and mesosoma irregularly longitudinally rugulose, with smooth, shining interspaces; the spaces between the eyes and the ventral extensions of the longitudinal carinae extending from the occipital region smooth and shining, almost without sculpture.

There are two subspecies of M. graminicola in E Asia: M. graminocola sinensis and M. graminocola nipponica. The status of these forms should be re-examined. M. g. nipponica is different from. M. g. graminicola at least in the shape of the anterior margin of its clypeus, the form of the propodeal spines, and the sculpturation of the mesosomal dorsum. Found on the floor of woodland or its margins, nesting in the soil, or fallen twigs, or under stones.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Yaku I.: Korean Peninsula.