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subfamily
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Aenictinae
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Japanese Name
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Hime-sasurai-ari-aka
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Original Reference
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Emery, C. (1901) Notes sur les sous-familles des dorylines et ponerines (famille des formicides). Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique 45: 32-54.
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Description
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Worker ants of this subfamily are ditinguished the following characteristics: pedicel 2-segmented; each frontal carina forming a thin, low subcircular wall surrounding the associated antennal socket, so that the latter is exposed in frontal view; promesonotal suture absent or at most very obscure on mesosomal dorsum. Although the worker pedicel is 2-segmented, those of the males and queens are 1-segmented.
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Remarks
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This is one of three subfamilies of so-called "army ants". The others are the New World Ecitoninae and the Old World Dorylinae. Aenictine ants are vagrant in habits; they do not construct permanent nests, but occupy more-or-less stable "statary-phase" bivouacs when there are pupae in the nests, and short-term temporary "nomadic-phase bivouacs" at other times in their brood cycles. They attack the nests of other ants, and feed on larvae and pupae. Males are often taken at light. Subfamily Aenictinae comprises the single genus, Aenictus.
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References
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- Emery, C. (1901). Notes sur les sous-familles des dorylines et ponerines (famille des formicides). Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique 45: 32-54.
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Editor
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Original text and English translation by Mamoru Terayama.
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