Vollenhovia minuta Viehmeyer, 1916 stat. n.

Vollenhovia brevicornis var. minuta Viehmeyer, 1916: 129 (w.)

Subspecies of Vollenhovia brevicornis: Emery, 1922: 164; Ettershank, 1966: 149; Bolton, 1995: 423.

Material examined. Males and workers, Mandai forest, 7 Jun 2018, W. Wang leg., WW-SG18-002, ZRC _ ENT00027960 ; Nee Soon forest, 7 Jan 2015, W. Wang leg., ZRC _ ENT00000998 ; Upper Thomson Road, 9 Dec 2017, W. Wang leg., WW-SG17- Voll 1, ZRC _ ENT00000963 ; same locality as previous, 11 Oct 2016, G.W. Yong leg., ZRC _ ENT00048027; queen, Upper Thomson Nature Park, 1.38159, 103.81921, 11 Oct 2016, G.W. Yong et al. leg., ZRC _ ENT00048028 .

Material not physically examined. Unknown.

Literature. None (see Remarks). New record.

Localities. Mandai forest

Habitat/Ecology. This species was found in old/ mature secondary forest, including abandoned plantation forests, typically nesting under bark of large fallen tree trunks or near the bases of live trees.

Remarks. The type locality for this species is in Gunong Angsi in Malaysia (see Overbeck 1924), not Singapore as erroneously indicated in most existing publications and online resources (e.g. Bolton 2021, AntWeb).

This species was originally described as a subspecies of V. brevicornis, however, it is morphologically completely different from the latter and should be treated as a distinct species. Vollenhovia minuta can be distinguished by the following characters: 1) minute size (TL 1.8 – 2 mm), 2) head much longer than wide, 3) head in profile with flattened appearance, 4) antennal scapes very short, not reaching posterior head margin, 5) mesosoma elongate with almost flat dorsum, 6) no propodeal spines, 7) head, mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole densely reticulate-punctate. The species resembles V. piroskae taipingensis Forel, 1913, but can be differentiated by its much longer head in full face view (in V. piroskae taipingensis, head is scarcely longer than wide).