Ochetellus glaber

Japanese Name

Ruri-ari

Mayr, G. (1862) Myrmecologische Studien. Verhandlungen der k. k. Zoologisch Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 12: 649-776.

Iridomyrmex itoi Forel (Forel, 1900) , Iridomyrmex itoi var. abbotti Wheeler (Wheeler, 1906) , Ochetellus itoi (Forel) (Shattuck, 1992) ,

Small ants: total length of workers around 2 mm. Body black with weak metallic lustre on gaster. Legs and antennae brownish. Head longer than wide; sides converging anteriorly in full face view. Mandibles with the 4 apical teeth relatively large, followed by about 10 much smaller teeth. Antennal scapes short, not reaching posterior margin of head. Metanotal groove distinct, deeply incised in lateral view. Posterodorsal corner of propodeum angulate; declivitous face very weakly concave to almost straight in lateral view. Petiolar node thin and high, 2.5 x as high as long. Head, excluding clypeus and vertex, and mesosoma, almost hairless. Surfaces of head and mesosoma weakly microreticulate; gaster smooth and shining.

This species superficially resembles Technomyrmex albipes, but is easily distinguished by the shape of its petiole. O. glaber is commonly distributed southwards from the Kanto district in grasslands and at forest margins. It nests in dead twigs, in rotting wood and under stones. These ants often attack the nests of polistine or sphecid wasps nesting in dead bamboo stems. Malfunction of railroad signals cased by ntrusion of O. glaber was reported by Kubota (1974). Teranishi (1929) identified specimens from Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu as "Iridomyrmex itoi" and those from Okinawa as "I. glaber", but we are unable morphologically to distinguish Okinawan material. Wu & Wang (1995) synomymized O. itoi with Ochetellus glaber.

Honshu (the Kanto district and southwards), Shikoku, Kyushu, Nansei Is, Senkaku Is, Daito Is.