Aphaenogaster kumejimana

This species nests in rotting wood, tree holes etc. Workers turn their gasters downwards while foraging, and perform death-feigning behavior.

Identification
Total length of workers 4.5-5.5 mm. Body light brown, the head and gaster slightly darker. Legs yellow. As seen from above a large gap separates the pronotum from the mesonotum. This species is not separable from Aphaenogaster concolor in worker morphology but the two differ in chromosome number (2n=26 in kumejimana, 2n=30 in concolor). (Japanese Ant Image Database)

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Japan.

Nomenclature

 *  kumejimana. Aphaenogaster kumejimana Watanabe & Yamane, 1999: 731, figs. 1, 5, 15 (w.) JAPAN.

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., 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.