Pristomyrmex yaeyamensis

Japanese Name

Togemune-amime-ari

Yamane, Sk. & M. Terayama (1999) A new species of the genus Pristomyrmex Mayr from Japan, and a proposal of a new synonym of species in the genus Camponotus Mayr (Hymenoptera; Formicidae). Memoirs of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 17-24.

Pristomyrmex brevispinosus sulcatus var. formosae Forel (Myrmecological Society of Japan Editorial Committee, 1988), Pristomyrmex brevispinosus sulcatus Emery (Ogata, 1991)

Total body length of workers around 2.5 - 3 mm. Body yellowish brown to reddish brown. Head largely rounded, with a relatively straight posterior margin in full face view; posterolateral corners round, not forming angles. Clypeus with a median carina; its anterior margin with 3 teeth. Mandibles with 5 teeth, the apical 3 larger than the others. Antennal scapes proportionately shorter than in P. pungens, slightly exceeding posterior margin of head. Dorsal margin of pronotum straight in profile, its dorsolateral corners each with a short spine. Propodeal spines short, their tips turned upwards; seen from the side the spines do not reach the level of the posterior end of the propodeum. Anterior margin of petiolar node weakly convex; dorsal outline convex, sloping posteriorly; the posterodorsal border not forming an angle. Head and dorsum of mesosoma with moderately large punctures; lateral surfaces of mesonotum and propodeum, petiolar peduncle, postpetiole and gaster smooth and shining.

Colony size is small in Pristomyrmex yaeyamensis, with less than 20 workers per nest. Ergatoid females are present (Onoyama, 1976; Terayama, 1999). The nests are found in rotting wood or under stones in forested habitats. A closely related species occurs in Taiwan and southern China, but it has normal alate queens and no ergatoids. This species is known only from Iriomote Island in the Nansei Islands.

Iriomote I.