Aphaenogaster minutula

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 based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Japan.

Nomenclature

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

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.