Euponera sakishimensis

Euponera sakishimensis nests in soil. Single foraging workers are often observed on the ground at forest margins (Japanese Ant Image Database).

Identification
Terayama (1999) - Total length of workers around 4.5-5 mm. Mandible with a basal pit. General shape and body size close to Euponera pilosior, but the color generally lighter. Subpetiolar process triangular. The latter is the major feature distinguishing this species from Euponera pilosior''.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Japan.

Japan (Nansei Is (Miyako I. and the Yaeyama Is)).

Nomenclature

 *  sakishimensis. Pachycondyla sakishimensis Terayama, 1999a: 10, figs. 6-8 (w.) JAPAN. Combination in Euponera: Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014: 87.

Worker
Holotype: HL 0.78 mm; HW 0.75 mm; SL 0.58 mm; CI 97; SI 77; WL 1.18 mm; PW 0.70 mm; PNL 0.24 mm; PH 0.60 mm; DPW 0.58 mm; TL 4.5 mm. Head almost square in frontal view, slightly longer than wide, with almost straight posterior margin in full face view. Mandible with a small pit at near base. Antennal scape just reaching posterior margin of head. Eye small, with about 10 facets. Dorsal outline of mesosoma largely straight; posterodorsal corner forming an obtuse angle in profile; dorsal disc of propodeum 1.5 times as long as wide. Petiolar node thin and high; anterior and posterior margins converging to dorsum; dorsal outline acutely convex; width of node in dorsal view 0.9 times dorsal width of pronotum. Subpetiolar process triangular, with a ventral corner. Head, mesosoma and gaster strongly microreticulate; petiole, antennal scape and legs moderately microreticulate. Head, mesosoma, petiole and gaster covered with abundant whitish pubecences. Dorsa of head, mesosoma, petiole, and gaster with moderate erect hairs; the hairs also present on antennal scape. Head blackish brown; mesosoma, petiole and gaster dark reddish brown; antenna, mandible and legs reddish brown.

Type Material
Holotype. Worker, Urauchi, Iriomote-jima, Okinawa Pref., 30. III. 1985, M. Terayama leg. . Paratypes. 3 workers, same data as holotype; 3 workers, Ohara, Iriomote-jima, Okinawa Pref., 17. III. 1978, M. Terayama leg.; 5 workers, Mt. Omoto-dake, Ishigaki-jima, Okinawa Pref., 13. VIII. 1978, M. Terayama leg.; 1 worker, Taketomi-jima, Okinawa Pref., 29. VII. 1977, M. Terayama leg.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Terayama M. 1999. Taxonomic studies of the Japanese Formicidae, Part 4. Three new species of Ponerinae. Memoirs of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 7-15.
 * Terayama M., S. Kubota, and K. Eguchi. 2014. Encyclopedia of Japanese ants. Asakura Shoten: Tokyo, 278 pp.
 * 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.
 * 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.