Aphaenogaster luteipes

Japanese Name

Ikubi-ashinaga-ari

Watanabe, H. & Yamane, S. (1999) New species and new status in the genus Aphaenogaster (Formicidae) from Japan. In: Identification Guide to the Aculeata of the Nansei Islands, pp. 733-734, Hokkaido Univ. Press, Sapporo.

Total length of workers 3.5-5 mm. Body reddish light brown to dark brown. Antennal flagellum progressively more pale towards its apex; the club paler than the remainder. Very similar to A. concolor, but distinguished by the more laterally produced eyes, the presence of 4 strong bristles on the anteriorly produced median margin of the clypeus (there are 2 bristles in A. concolor), and the higher chromosome number(2n=32 vs. 30).

Nests are found in the soil in forests and at forest margins. The gasters of foraging workers are turned downwards, and death-feigning behavior is absent.

Nansei Is (Amami-oshima I. to Okinawa I., Senkaku Is).