Aphaenogaster minutula

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Aphaenogaster minutula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Aphaenogaster
Species: A. minutula
Binomial name
Aphaenogaster minutula
Watanabe & Yamane, 1999


Common Name
Hime-ashinaga-ari
Language: Japanese

Nests in relatively open sites in forests and at forest edges. Nests are excavated in the soil, with a distinctive pile of wood chips around each entrance (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification

Total length of workers 3.5-5 mm. Body yellowish brown, with head (excepting mandibles) and mesosoma slightly darker. Antennal club pale in color. This species is distinguished from its close relatives (Aphaenogaster concolor, Aphaenogaster luteipes and Aphaenogaster kumejimana) by the smaller body size, 4-segmented maxillary palp (5-segmented in the other species), and the chromosome number 2n=28. (Japanese Ant Image Database)

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Japan (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • minutula. Aphaenogaster minutula Watanabe & Yamane, 1999: 732, figs. 2, 6, 14 (w.q.) JAPAN.
    • Status as species: Imai, et al. 2003: 160.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Terayama M. 2000. A list of Japanese ants changed after "A guide for the identification of Japanase ants I, II, III" (2). Ari 24: 13-21.
  • Terayama M., S. Kubota, and K. Eguchi. 2014. Encyclopedia of Japanese ants. Asakura Shoten: Tokyo, 278 pp.
  • Watanabe H., and S. Yamane. 1999. New species and new status in the genus Aphaenogaster (Formicidae) from Japan. Pp. 728-736 in: Yamane, S.; Ikudome, S.; Terayama, M. 1999. Identification guide to the Aculeata of the Nansei Islands, Japan. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, xii + 831 pp.
  • Yamane S. 2016. How many species of Ants in Amami Islands? (in Japanese). Part 2, chapter 1 in How many species of Ants in Amami Islands? Pp. 92-132.
  • Yamane S., S. Ikudome, and M. Terayama. 1999. Identification guide to the Aculeata of the Nansei Islands, Japan. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, xii + 831 pp. pp, 138-317.