Aphaenogaster luteipes

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 (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification
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 Aphaenogaster 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). (Japanese Ant Image Database)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Japan.

Nomenclature

 * . Aphaenogaster luteipes Watanabe & Yamane, 1999: 733, figs. 3, 7, 17 (w.q.) JAPAN.
 * Status as species: Imai, et al. 2003: 177; Eguchi, 2003: 341.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Eguchi K. 2003. A study on the male genitalia of some Asian species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae). Sociobiology 41: 317-355.
 * Fukumoto S. and Sk. Yamane. 2015. Records of ants from Uke–jima, Amami Islands, Japan (Hymenoptera,  Formicidae). Nature of Kagoshima 41: 195–197.
 * Fukumoto S., Sk. Yamane, and M. Hira. 2016. Records of ants from Yoro-Shima, Amami Gunto, Japan (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Nature of Kagoshima 42: 461–464.
 * 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. Fukumoto, Y. Maeda, and Y. Sato. 2017. Records of ants from Kakeroma-jima, the Amami Islands, Japan. Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan 71, 131-137.
 * 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.