family

FORMICIDAE

subfamily

Formicinae

Children

Paratrechina flavipes
Paratrechina longicornis
Paratrechina sakurae
Paratrechina amia
Paratrechina ryukyuensis
Paratrechina nubatama
Paratrechina yaeyamensis
Paratrechina otome
Paratrechina ogasawarensis
Paratrechina yambaru
Paratrechina sp.11

Key to Species

Worker Ants

ITIS
 

Paratrechina

Hymenoptera On-Line
 

Paratrechina

FORMIS
 

Paratrechina

CSIRO
  Paratrechina



genus

Paratrechina
Display Mode

Shape
Real Size
(1.5x)
Japanese Name

Ameiro-ari-zoku
Original Reference

Motschoulsky, V.de. (1863) Essai d'un catalogue des insectes de l'ile Ceylan. Bulletin de la Sociˇtˇ Impˇriale des Naturalistes de Moscou 36: 1-153.
Description

Small ants: total length of workers around 1.5 - 3.5 mm. Eyes of medium size, situated anteriorly on head capsule. Ocelli present, obscure or absent. Antennae 12-segmented. Antennal scrobes present near posterior margin of clypeus. Scapes exceeding occipital margin, often longer than head length. Masticatory margins of mandibles each with 5 or 6 teeth. Labial and maxillary palpi long, palpal formula 6:4. Male genitalia large, cerci lacking.
Remarks

Agosti & Bolton (1990a) indicated that projecting hairs on the outer, anterior and posterior margins of the hind tibiae can be used as a generic determinant. However, among Japanese species, P. flavipes and P. longicornis have such hairs, but P. sakurae and P. otome do not, though they do have abundant tibial pubescence. Paratrechina species nest in dead branches, leaf litter, rotting stumps and in the soil. They forage on trees and grasses and in leaf litter, and feed mainly on liquids, such as flower nectar. The genus is distributed almost worldwide, and comprises about 90 described species. The United States fauna was reviewed by Trager (1984), but the taxonomy of Asian species has not been comprehensively revised. Eleven species have been reported in Japan.
References

  • Agosti, D. & B. Bolton (1990). The identity of Andragnathus, a forgotten formicine ant genus (Hym., Formicidae). Ent. Mon. Mag., 126, 75-77.
  • Trager, J. C. (1984). A revision of the genus Paratrechina (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the continental United Stated. Sociobiol., 9, 51-162.
  • Essai d'un catalogue des insectes de l'ile Ceylan. Bulletin de la Sociˇtˇ Impˇriale des Naturalistes de Moscou 36: 1-153.

Editor

Original text by Mamoru Terayama, Keiichi Onoyama & Masaaki Morisita. English translation by Mamoru Terayama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.