Hypoponera beppin

This species nests in soil and is rather rarely encountered (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification
Terayama (1999) - Total length of workers around 3 mm. Body color brown to blackish brown. Eye with a single black facet; the distance from the posterior margin of clypeus to the anterior margin of eye 4-5 times the eye diameter. Antennal club 6-segmented, the 6th segment from the apex indistinctly swollen. Metanotum slightly constricted. Lateral border of propodeal declivity angulate. Petiole narrow in posterior view; its dorsal surface slightly pointed. Subpetiolar process subtriangular.

Distinguished from the other Japanese congeners by the 6-segmented antennal club (5-segmented in other Japanese species). This species nests in the soil.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: China, Japan.

Nomenclature

 *  beppin. Hypoponera beppin Terayama, 1999a: 12, figs. 9-11 (w.) JAPAN.

Worker
HL 0.70 mm; HW 0.53 mm; 8L 0.50 mm; C1 75; 81 95; WL 0.92 mm; PW 0.45 mm; PNL 0.18 mm; PH 0.40 mm; DPW 0.24 mm; TL 3.0 mm. Head long, 1.32 times as long as wide, with gently convex sides and almost straight posterior margin in full face view. Antenna with 12 segments; scape long, exceeding posterior margin of head; 2nd segment 1.3 times as long as wide; 3rd to 11th segments each wider than long; 11th segment 1.3 times as long as wide; terminal segment 2.1 times as long as wide; antennal club 6-segmented, the 6th segment from the apex indistinctly swollen. Eye with a single black facet; the distance from the posterior margin of clypeus to the anterior margin of eye 4-5 times the eye diameter. Mesosoma moderately long, dorsum of mesonotum and propodeum straight; metanotum slightly constricted; propodeal declivity gently sloping; lateral margin of propodeal declivity angulate. Petiole high, with gently convex anterior and straight posterior margins; dorsal margin strongly convex in profile; dorsal disc in frontal view strongly convex. 8ubpetiolar process subtriangular, with an anteroventral corner. Head microreticulate; mesosoma, petiole, and gaster relatively weakly microreticulate. Body color reddish brown; mandible. antenna, and legs yellowish brown.

Type Material
Holotype. Worker, Kunigami-son, Okinawa-jima, Okinawa PreL, 25. VIII. 1991, M. Terayama leg. Paratypes. 5 workers, same data as holotype; 3 workers, Mt. Yonaha-dake, Okinawa-jima, Okinawa Pref., 11. III. 1983, H. Takamine leg.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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 * Terayama Mamoru. 2009. A synopsis of the family Formicidae of Taiwan (Insecta, Hymenoptera). The Research Bulletin of Kanto Gakuen University 17: 81-266.
 * Terayama, M. 2009. A synopsis of the family Formicidae of Taiwan (Insecta; Hymenoptera). The Research Bulletin of Kanto Gakuen University 17: 81-266.
 * 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.
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 * Yamane S.; Ikudome, S.; Terayama, M. 1999. Identification guide to the Aculeata of the Nansei Islands, Japan. Sapporo: Hokkaido University Press, xii + 831 pp. pp138-317.