New record of the genus Gauromyrmex Menozzi, 1933 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Japan

Three workers of the ant genus Gauromyrmex Menozzi, 1933 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were collected on Amami-Oshima Island, Japan, and identified as G. acanthinus (Karavaiev, 1935). This represents the first record of both G. acanthinus and the genus Gauromyrmex in Japan. We provide morphological features of the Japanese specimens and discuss the species’ distribution. Gauromyrmex acanthinus is broadly distributed across East and Southeast Asia, including China and Taiwan. This new record from Amami-Oshima suggests that G. acanthinus is also likely distributed across the Nansei Islands located between Amami-Oshima Island and these known localities. In addition, we propose the Japanese vernacular name “Katazuno-koukiari” for G. acanthinus .