Protanilla sp.1

Japanese Name

Juzufushi-ari

Total length of workers around 2.5 mm. Color yellowish to reddish brown. Mandibles long and triangular, down-curved at apical 1/3; inner surface with peg-like setae. Antennal scape slightly exceeding posterior margin of head. Head about 1.3 times as long as broad. Mesosoma slender. Promesonotum weakly arched; metanotal groove deeply impressed. Propodeum almost the same size as pronotum; dorsal surface longer than declivity in profile. Petiole and postpetiole almost matching in size. Ventral portion of petiole rounded, with a small subtrapezoidal projection. First gastral segment large. Sting long, with a triangular structure apically and a small tooth subapically. Body surface almost smooth, shining, without sculpture.

This species has been referred to as "Ponerinae ? sp." (Sonobe, 1972), "Gen. C sp. 1" [Japanese name: Okinawa-juzufushi-ari] and Gen. C sp. 2 [Senkaku-juzufushi-ari] of Myrmecological Society of Japan (1988). A colony collected from Seifaa-utaki, Okinawa I. in March contained one dealate female, 77 adult workers, 168 larvae and 17 eggs (Onoyama, unpublished). The postpetiole of the female is separated from the petiole by a marked constriction. A single, fused sternal plate, like that of Anomalomyrma, is not present. Found in Kyushu and the south, and also from Taiwan (Terayama, 1999). Not common.

Kyushu (Mt. Kirishima [Rikio Sonobe leg.], Kagoshima), Nansei Is (Mt. Yuwandake, Amami-oshima I. [Hidetsune Takamine leg.]; Tokunoshima I.; Nakijin, Okinawa I. [Kazuki Tsuji & P. Jaisson leg.], Seifaa-utaki, Okinawa I. [Keiichi Onoyama leg.]; Uotsuri-jima I., Senkaku Is [Takuya Abe leg.]); Taiwan.