Materiali per una revisione della sottofamiglia Leptanillinae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

33 species are recognized in the ant subfamily Leptanillinae. 17 of them are based on workers and 16 on unassociated males. The workers are grouped into the single genus Leptanilla Emery (= Leptomesites Kutter, syn.nov.) which includes the following species : L. revelierei Emery (= L.doderoi Emery, syn.nov.) from S. France, Corsica, Sardinia and N. Africa. The three infraspecific forms attributed to this species cannot be separated from the typical form and one from each other on consistent morphological grounds but they have been not formally synonymized because of the high number of male-based and morphologically divergent species coming from the same area and which should at least in part correspond to these worker-based forms. L. theryi Forel from Algeria and Tunesia. L. kubotai n.sp. from Japan. L. morimotoi Yasumatsu from Japan. L. buddhista n.sp. from Nepal. L. besucheti n.sp. from Sri Lanka. L. oceanica n. sp. from Ogasawara Is. L. havilandi Forel from Singapore. L. thai n. sp. from Thailand. L. butteli Forel from Malaysia. L. swani Wheeler from Australia. L. tanakai n.sp. from Japan. L. japonica n.sp. from Japan. L. escheri (Kutter) from S. India. L. vaucheri Emery from Morocco. L. boltoni n. sp. from Ghana. L. nana Santschi from Tunesia.
The males are only partly reviewed because it has not been possible to examine all the known species. It is underlined, moreover, that some of these males could be extraneous to the Leptanillinae and even to the Formicidae, although their placement within the Leptanillinae seems to represent the most reasonable solution for the moment. 11 species in 4 genera result from literature and 5 additional species are recognized in the present paper. Only 3 of them, of particular zoogeographical interest, are described, that is: L. africana n.sp. from Nigeria, L. australis n.sp. from S. Africa and L. islamica n. sp. from Aden. Two others from Spain and Tunesia respectively, are briefly described but not named because of the intriguing status of the previously known Mediterranean species.
A particular emphasis is given to the discovery of L. oceanica on the Ogasawara Islands. To explain this record we are forced to admit the capacity of long distance dispersal for Leptanilla, an assumption which reproposes the problem of the previously supposed antiquity of these ants and of their consequently low evolutionary rate.