Aphaenogaster edentula

This is a woodland species which nests in soil (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification
Total length of workers 4 - 6 mm. Body color dark brown; legs, petiole and postpetiole more brownish; mandibles, the four apical antennal segments and tarsi lighter. Head and pronotal dorsum with numerous standing hairs, which are longer and denser than those on gaster. Posterior border of head flat in full face view. Posterior portion of head shining, with simple, sparse striation. Funicular segments strongly constricted between them. Mesonotum raised, but lower than pronotum; covered with striae and shallow punctures. Lateral portions of mesopleurae with strong longitudinal striae and punctures. Propodeal spines weakly developed, low (each shorter than its basal width), with blunt apices. (Japanese Ant Image Database)

Distribution
Known only from the Ogasawara Islands.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Japan.

Nomenclature

 * . Aphaenogaster edentula Watanabe & Yamane, 1999: 728, fig. 10 (w.q.m.) JAPAN.
 * Status as species: Imai, et al. 2003: 178.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Terayama M., S. Kubota, and K. Eguchi. 2014. Encyclopedia of Japanese ants. Asakura Shoten: Tokyo, 278 pp.
 * Terayama M., and S. Kubota. 2002. Ants of Tokyo, Japan. ARI 26: 1-32.
 * 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.