SUBFAMILY DOLICHODERINAE
Genus Tapinoma Förster
|
|
The Ants of Africa SUBFAMILY DOLICHODERINAE Genus Tapinoma Förster |
| Dolichoderinae Introduction |
Type-species: Tapinoma collina (junior synonym of Tapinoma erraticum) by monotypy. Tapinoma senior synonym of Micromyrma Mayr (1863: 455); senior synonym of Neochystopsenella: [India] Brown (1988a: 137); senior synonym of Semonius, Tapinoptera and Zatapinoma [Asia], with genus review, Shattuck (1992c: 146).
Diagnostic Features - Eyes at or in front of the midlength of the head on the dorsal surface. Clypeus with or without the anterior margin emarginate. Mandibles with large apical two or three teeth, followed by a row of denticles. Palp formula, 6,4; and palpi long. Propodeum unarmed or rarely with a pair of blunt tubercles. Gaster in dorsal view with four visible tergites, the anal and associated orifices are ventral. Shattuck (1991: 108) noted that of the Dolichoderines only Tapinoma has elongate scapes in the male.
Förster's (1850a) genus definition is at
.
Mayr's (1861: 41) gave a genus description, this is at
.
Arnold (1915: 152) gave a note on the genus, with a key to South African
species, this is at 
.
Forel (1910f: 21) defined Semonius as a new Dolichoderine genus,
the definition is at 
.
Arnold (1915: 157) gave a note on the genus, this is at
.
Bolton (1995) lists a few species from Zaïre, eastern and southern Africa but has no species of which the holotypes came from West Africa. Wheeler (1922) noted how Tapinoma melanocephalum had become distributed by commerce throughout the tropics, and that the workers of the genus are timid and emit from their anal glands a strong odour like "rancid butter" ("Tapinoma-odor").
Provisional key to African
species
Based mainly on original descriptions and almost certainly meriting
further revision.
| 1 |  Head
heart-shaped, relatively large TL 2.0-3.0 mm; anterior margin of clypeus
with low-curved median notch, overall dull yellow with gaster
blackish-brown to dark-brown |
Congo Basin east to Kenya - luridum |
| -- | Head with occiput not impressed; anterior margin of clypeus straight or weakly sinuous | 2 |
| 2 | 
Head with a smoothly ovoid outline (HL = HW) |
3 |
| -- |  Head
elongated (HL > HW) with a relatively straight occiput |
5 |
| . | Head with a smoothly ovoid outline (HL = HW) | . |
| 3 | Scapes
not surpassing occiput, TL 2.3; colour brown, appendages lighter |
Somalia - chiaromontei |
| -- | Scapes clearly surpassing the occiput | 4 |
| 4 |  TL
at least 2.5 mm; head and body unicolourous; anterior margin of clypeus
weakly and smoothly convex |
Zaïre & Guinea - longiceps (also Zimbabwe - menozzii) |
| -- |  TL
2.2 mm; dull yellow, head and gaster brownish, silky; pubescence dense
but very short; anterior margin of clypeus weakly convex but feebly
scalloped; eyes set around the mid-point, angled ovoid; scape surpassing
occiput by one-quarter its own length |
. |
| . |  |
Kenya - connexum |
| . | Head elongated (HL > HW) with a relatively straight occiput | . |
| 5 | Propodeum in profile with a distinct sharp transition from dorsum to declivity | 6 |
| -- | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity no more than a rounded angle | 10 |
| 6 |  Head
with convex sides, relatively straight occiput; small TL no more than
2.0 mm; propodeal declivity weakly convex; head and alitrunk dark yellow
brown to near black, gaster much lighter to yellow, extremities paler |
Panafrican & global tramp species - melanocephalum |
| -- | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity sharply defined | 7 |
| 7 | Propodeum with declivity in profile flat | 8 |
| -- | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity sharply defined, the declivity concave and the angle with a raised apex | 9 |
| 8 | TL 1.5 mm; head a rounded rectangle, HL > HW; eyes "large"; antennal scape surpassing occiput by about one-fifth of its own length; shiny, pubescent; brown, alitrunk lighter, appendages smoky brown-yellow | Kenya (Fundu I.) - acuminatum |
| -- |  TL
1.4 mm; antennal scape not reaching the occiput; pubescence very short
and scanty; yellow brown, smooth and shiny |
Tanzania - Tapinoma TZ 2-18 |
| 9 | 
Propodeum with declivity distinctly bordered and concave; TL 1.6-1.9 mm;
colour dark yellow-brown |
Zimbabwe & West Africa - lugubre |
| -- |  TL
2.0 mm; finely & shallowly reticulate; pilosity a whitish appressed
pubescence; colour grayish brown, appendages paler |
probably a junior synonym of lugubre - Sudan - carininotum |
| . | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity no more than a rounded angle | . |
| 10 | Antennal scape clearly surpassing the occipital border | 11 |
| -- | Antennal scape not surpassing the occipital border | 12 |
| 11 | 
Antennal scape surpassing occipital border by about 1/4 of its own
length; TL 2 mm (variety emeryi TL 2.7-3.0 mm); colour pale
flavous yellow |
Southern Africa & Guinea - luteum |
| -- | Antennal scape surpassing the occiput by 1/3 its own length; TL 2 mm; eyes large set slightly forward of the mid-point of the head; legs very long; subopaque and densely punctate; colour ochreous; apex of gaster and funiculi brownish | Zimbabwe - demissum |
| . | Antennal scape not surpassing the occipital border | . |
| 12 | 
Antennal scape reaching the occipital border; TL 1.4-1.5 mm; colour
yellow ochre; anterior margin of clypeus feebly notched; mandibles quite
large with small denticles and three distinct apical teeth |
Zimbabwe west to Benin - modestum |
| -- | Antennal scape reaching about 3/4 point of head; black or brownish | 13 |
| 13 |  TL
1.8-3.0 mm; base colour near black but with dense, greyish, microscopic
pubescence all over |
. |
| . |  |
Botswana & Tanzania - schultzei |
| -- | TL maximum 1.8 mm | 14 |
| 14 |  TL
1.8 mm; mandibles with 4 distinct teeth, the apical tooth strongest,
also 10-12 denticles; propodeal dorsum and declivity flat, sub-bordered;
yellow sometimes with the gaster brownish |
Madagascar - subtile |
| -- | TL > 1.8 mm | 15 |
| 15 |  TL
1.6-1.7 mm; colour light brown; mandibles narrow with only a few minute
teeth; eyes quite small |
. |
| . |  |
Zimbabwe & West Africa - arnoldi |
| -- | TL maximum 1.7 mm; mandibles quite large | 16 |
| 16 | Base colour yellowish-brown | 17 |
| -- | Base colour dark brown to near black | 19 |
| 17 |  TL ca 1.7 mm;
alitrunk almost flat in
profile, with propodeum obtusely angled and the declivity flat; eyes set in
slight depressions on the sides of the head; erect hairs on ventral apex of the gaster, on the
clypeus and 2 on the fore coxa; dense fine pubescence; colour
all over yellow-brown; funiculi darker grey brown except for a light apical segment |
Tapinoma species King 47 |
| -- | TL > 1.5 mm | 18 |
| 18 |  TL
1.2-1.4 mm; colour pale ochreous or pale reddish ochreous to pale
yellowish sepia-brown; anterior margin of clypeus straight; eyes set no
further back from the anterior margin of the head than about their own
length |
Southern Africa - minimum |
| -- |  TL
ca 1.5 mm; simliar but with larger eyes and thicker scapes; the latter
with quite dense pubescence |
Tanzania - Tapinoma new species Tanzania 3/68/07 |
| 18 |  TL
1.2-1.7 mm; pubescence very short and scanty; dark brown, smooth and
shiny |
South Africa & Tanzania - danitschi |
| -- |  TL
ca 1.5; eyes set well forward of the midline of the sides of the head;
scapes very short (under two-thirds of HL); funiculus apical segment
swollen, segments 9-10 slightly larger than 2-8; in dorsal view alitrunk
with near right angled anterior lateral shoulders; promesonotal suture
arched forward; propodeum with rounded raised transition from dorsum to
declivity, declivity flat; erect setae only on the clypeus; head,
alitrunk and gaster dull due to dense imbrication; dense fine flat
pubescence; dark brown, except antenna, tarsi and tibiae which are
colourless. |
. |
| . |  |
West Africa - Tapinoma new species Cameroon 60 |
 |
© 2007, 2008 - Brian Taylor CBiol
FIBiol FRES 11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K. |
href="tapinoma.htm"