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The
Ants of Africa SUBFAMILY DOLICHODERINAE Genus Tapinoma Förster |
Dolichoderinae Introduction |
Type-species: Tapinoma collina (Förster, 1850a: 43; junior synonym of Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798), synonymy by Schenk, 1852: 67) 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 Zaďre, 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 | ![]() |
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Congo Basin east to Kenya - luridum |
-- | Head with occiput not impressed; anterior margin of clypeus straight or weakly sinuous | 2 |
2 | ![]() |
3 |
-- | ![]() |
6 |
. | Head with a smoothly ovoid outline; eyes set about the mid-point of the head or only slightly forward of the mid-point | . |
3 | ![]() |
Panafrican & global tramp species - melanocephalum |
-- | HL > HW | 4 |
4 | ![]() |
Zaďre
& Guinea - longiceps |
-- | Base colour light brown to yellow | 4 |
5 | ![]() |
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. | ![]() |
Somalia - chiaromontei |
-- | ![]() |
. |
. | ![]() |
Kenya - connexum |
. | Head elongated (HL > HW) with a relatively straight occiput | . |
6 | Propodeum in profile with a distinct sharp transition from dorsum to declivity | 7 |
-- | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity no more than a rounded angle | 10 |
7 | ![]() |
Tanzania - mcgavini new species |
-- | Propodeum in profile with the transition from dorsum to declivity sharply defined, the declivity concave and the angle with a raised apex | 8 |
8 | ![]() |
. |
-- | ![]() |
West Africa to Sudan - carininotum |
-- | Colour dull brown-black - two apparently
identical forms; if so Tapinoma
acuminatum is the senior synonym |
9 |
9 | ![]() |
. |
. | ![]() |
Zimbabwe & Congo Basin - lugubre |
-- | ![]() |
Kenya (Fundu I.) - acuminatum |
. | 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 | ![]() |
Pan-African (savannah?) - luteum |
-- | ![]() |
Zimbabwe - demissum |
. | Antennal scape not surpassing the occipital border | . |
12 | ![]() |
Zimbabwe west to Benin and Mali - modestum |
-- | Antennal scape reaching about 3/4 point of head; black or brownish | 13 |
13 | ![]() |
. |
. | ![]() |
Botswana & Tanzania - schultzei |
-- | TL maximum 1.8 mm | 14 |
14 | ![]() |
Madagascar - subtile |
-- | TL > 1.8 mm | 15 |
15 | ![]() |
. |
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Southern Africa form - arnoldi |
-- | TL maximum 1.8 mm; mandibles quite large | 16 |
16 | Base colour yellowish-brown | 17 |
-- | Base colour dark brown to near black | 19 |
17 | ![]() |
Nigeria & Cameroun - Tapinoma Nigeria sp T1 new species |
-- | TL maximum 1.5 mm | 18 |
18 | ![]() |
Southern Africa - minimum |
-- | ![]() |
Tanzania - mkomaziae new species (Tanzania 3/68/07) |
19 | ![]() |
South Africa & Tanzania - danitschi |
-- | ![]() 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 - debouti new species |
19 | ![]() Colour all over brown, shiny. Antennal scapes noticeably short relative to the head length. Erect hairs only on the clypeus. Dense fine pubescence on all surfaces except the sides of the head, where it is sparse. Dorsum of alitrunk nearly smoothly convex in profile with a slight depression at the metanotal suture. |
Nigeria & Cameroun - n sp. CRIN T2 |
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©
2007,
2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 - Brian Taylor CBiol FSB FRES 11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K. |
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