THE ANT LARVAE OF THE SUBFAMILY 
LEPTANILLINAE (HYMENOPTERA, FORMICIDAE) 
By George C. Wheeler and Jeanette Wheeler 
University of North Dakota, Grand Forks 
The Leptanillinae are a small subfamily comprising 14 species in 
3 genera: Leptanilla Emery, 11 species; Leptomesites Kutter, 1 
species; Phaulomyrma G. C. & E. W. Wheeler, 2 species. 
This subfamily has been recorded only from the warmer parts of 
the Old World: Corsica, Sardinia, North Africa, India, Malaya, 
Java, Queensland, Western Australia and Japan. Seemingly it is 
rare, but the paucity of the records may be due to minute size and 
hypogeic habits. As W. M. Wheeler optimistically remarked (1932, 
p. 54) : “We should expect careful collecting with the Berlese funnel 
to bring additional forms to light in South Africa, Madagascar, Asia 
Minor and India, or even, perhaps, in the warmer parts of the New 
World.’’ Brown (1954, p. 28) noted: “The habits of the species 
are such as to render their discovery highly fortuitous under present 
collecting methods.’’ In the 30 years since Wheeler wrote, only two 
species have been discovered (one in India and one in Japan), which 
would rather support another statement by Wheeler in the same 
article (p. 57-58) : “The Leptanillinae . . . must be very ancient, 
like many other components of the microgenton. . . . L. swani is 
particularly interesting in this connection, because the extreme south- 
western corner of Australia, in which it was taken, is known to possess 
the oldest and least disturbed fauna of any portion of the continent.’’ 
Antiquity is compatible with a disjunct distribution and with rarity. 
The genus Leptanilla was established by Emery in 1870 and then 
for half a century was kicked about over the taxonomic table. Origi- 
nally Emery placed it in the “Dorylidae” near Typhlopone. Mayr, 
however, in a letter to Emery (date not given — see Emery 1904) 
dissented, maintaining that it belonged with the Myrmicinae. Emery 
was evidently convinced, for in 1875 he removed it to the “Mirmi- 
cidei” in the neighborhood of Stenamma and Liomyrmex. In 1877 he 
moved it to the vicinity of Monomoriuin and Leptothorax in the 
“Myrmicidei genuini” but marked it with a query to signify un- 
certain position. In 1881 Ern. Andre had it in the first tribe, 
“Myrmicidae verae,” of the “Myrmicidae” but mentioned its affini- 
ties with the “Dorylides.” 
Forel in 1893 did not mention the genus but might have meant 
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