Hypoponera pygmaea (Forel, 1907)

Material examined. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, BT 03, 1.34913, 103.77914, 17 May 2017, W. Wang leg., WW-SG17-056, ZRC _ ENT00028316 ; Nee Soon forest, 26 Apr 2018, W. Wang leg., ZRC _ ENT00047964 .

Material not physically examined. Unknown.

Literature. None. New record.

Localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Nee Soon forest.

Habitat/Ecology. This species was found mostly in old secondary forest, on one occasion in soil at the base of a large tree.

Remarks. This tiny species (<1.5 mm) can be distinguished from most other congeners by its minute size and distinctly long antennal club. The original description states that the ‘last article of the antenna’, presumably the apical segment of the club, is about as long as the combined length of its preceding nine segments. In local specimens, we observed the apical antennal segment to be slightly shorter. Workers of Hypoponera pygmaea are also similar to those of another minute species – Hypoponera butteli (Forel, 1913), but can be differentiated by their shorter scapes which are distant from posterior margin of head when lain back. In H. butteli, the scapes nearly reach the posterior margin of head.