title: Rediscovery of the rare ant genus Bannapone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Amblyoponinae) and description of the worker caste.
abstract: The genus Bannapone was described in 2000 on the basis of a single dealate queen specimen. Since its original collection in Yunnan, China, no other specimen has been reported, making it one of the rarest ant genera in the world. Here we report the collection of two workers of Bannapone also from Yunnan province. The description of the worker caste is presented. Furthermore, we found significant differences with the described B. mulanae Xu, 2000 which leads us to describe the workers as a new species, B. scrobiceps n. sp.. Finally, we briefly discuss the importance of leaf-litter collection methods to collect taxa considered as "rare".
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan; Email: zeroben@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guénard
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blanchard
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Da-Rong
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Okinawa, 904-0495, Japan; Email: unknown.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Economo
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000825:Animal Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size