Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum

Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum No. 1 (continued)

A preliminary study was made on 24 ant species contained in 16 amber pieces from Mizunami amber (Pleistocene). They were determined as follows: 1) Ponerinae: Brachyponera sp. (1 worker) and more than 2 species (4 males). 2) Myrmicinae: Vollenhovia sp. (1 worker), Lophomyrmex? sp. (1 worker) and more than 5 species (1 dealate female and 9 workers). 3) Dolichoderinae: Thchnomyrmex sp. (1 worker). 4) Formicinae: Paratrechina (Nylanderia) sp. (1 worker). The subfamily of other 5 specimens were not determined. The range of body size is from 1.25 mm to 3.8 mm in total length. All species but one, Brachyponera sp. resembling B. chinensis, seem to be different from the living ants in Japan. The occurrence of Lophomyrmex? sp. may indicate warm climate of those days, for the present geographical distribution of the genus Lophomyrmex is confined to the Oriental region, and Formosa is a northern limit.