Formica lemani

Japanese Name

Yama-kuroyama-ari

Bondroit, J. (1917) Diagnoses de trois nouveaux Formica d'Europe. Bulletin de la SociŽtŽ Entomologique de France 1917: 186-187.

Formica lemani Bondroit 1917b, Formica fusca lemani: MŸller, 1923, Formica (Serviformica) lemani: Emery, 1925b, Formica fusca subsp. borealis Vashkevich 1924b,

Total length of workers around 3.5 - 5.5 mm. Body somewhat shining; brownish black; mandibles, funiculi and legs brown; scapes and tibiae yellowish. When indistinguishable by body color from F. japonica, the two species can be discriminated by the ratio of middle-leg tibial length to head width, or the density of pubescence on the second gastral tergite. The number of erect setae on the dorsa of the first and second gastral tergites in F. lemani average 10 and 20 respectively, and are thus relatively more abundant than in F. japonica. This is the case also for setae on the pronotal dorsum, which are more abundant on average in F. lemani than in F. japonica, though the two species are not readily distinguishable by this character because their separate ranges overlap.

F. lemani nests in the soil under stones and near grass roots. Reproductive alates fly after mid August at Mt. Zao, Miyagi Prefecture.

Hokkaido, Honshu (the central part and northwards; Mt. Misen, Nara Pref.; Mt. Daisen, Tottori Pref.), Shikoku (Mt. Ishizuchi etc.); Korean Peninsula, northern Eurasia.