Technomyrmex albipes

Japanese Name

Ashijiro-hirafushi-ari

Smith, F. (1861) Catalogue of hymenopterous insects collected by Mr. A.R. Wallace in the Islands of Ceram, Celebes, Ternate, and Gilolo. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Zoology 6: 36-48.

Formica (Tapinoma) albipes F. Smith (F. Smith, 1861) , Technomyrmex albipes (F. Smith) (Emery, 1888) , Technomyrmex detorquens Walker (Okamoto, 1966) ,

Total body length of workers around 2.5 mm. Body black to blackish brown; antennal funiculi and tarsi pale yellowish white. Head as long as wide. Mandibles with about 15 serrated teeth, the apical two distinctly the largest. Eyes, viewed in profile, situated almost at midlength of head capsule. Antennal scapes relatively long, distinctly microreticulate. Pronotum, mesonotum and propodeum each with a pair of erect hairs.

T. albipes inhabits dry grasslands and forest margins, and nests in rotting wood, stumps or twigs. The nests are polycalic, and colonies may have large numbers of workers, the populations often reaching several millions. The reproductive castes include ergatoid females and males in addition to alates of both sexes (Yamauchi et al., 1988). Alate females and males are present during March and June. This is the dominant ant species in mangrove woods on the Nansei Islands (Terayama, 1989). It has been found in botanical gardens in Chiba and Shizuoka Prefectures.

Kyushu (the southern part), Nansei Is; tropical and subtropical Asia, Oceania, northern Australia; North and South America (introduced).