The Ants of Africa

	The Ants of Africa SUBFAMILY DOLICHODERINAE *Genus Tapinoma* Förster**
Dolichoderinae Introduction

Genus Tapinoma Förster (1850a: 43)

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 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; eyes set about the mid-point of the head or only slightly forward of the mid-point	3
--	Head elongated with a relatively straight occiput; eyes set within anterior third of the head	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	TL no more than 2.0 mm; HW = HL; 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
--	HL > HW	4
4	TL at least 2.5 mm; head and body unicolourous dark brown; anterior margin of clypeus weakly and smoothly convex	Zaïre & Guinea - longiceps (also Zimbabwe - menozzii)
--	Base colour light brown to yellow	4
5	TL 2.3 mm; colour brown, alitrunk and pedicel lighter, appendages dull (dirty) yellow	.
.		Somalia - chiaromontei
--	TL 2.2 mm; uniform 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	.
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	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 - mcgavini new species (TZ 2-18)
9	Propodeum with declivity distinctly bordered and concave; funiculus segments all longer than wideTL 1.6-1.9 mm; colour dull blackish yellow	.
.	TL ca 1.5 mm, HL 0.48, HW 0.40, CI 85, SL 0.42 , SI 113, PW 0.27, eye length 0.12	Zimbabwe & Congo Basin - lugubre
--	TL 2.0 mm; funiculus segments mostly about as wide as they are long; finely & shallowly reticulate; pilosity a whitish appressed pubescence; colour grayish brown, appendages paler TL ca 2.0 mm, HL 0.53, HW 0.42, CI 75, SL 0.5, SI 138, PW 0.30, eye length 0.15	.
--		West Africa to 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; whole body very finely spiculate giving it a matt appearance	Pan-African (savannah?) - 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	Nigeria (Taylor sp T¹) and Mali - kingi new species
--	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; similar but with larger eyes and thicker scapes; the latter with quite dense pubescence	Tanzania - mkomaziae 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 - debouti new species

Undetermined and assignable forms from West Africa & the Congo Basin

Tapinoma species (indet.)

Two workers were collected from leaf litter in primary forest at Old Tafo in Ghana, by Belshaw & Bolton (1994b).

Tapinoma species A

Collected in Ghana by Bigger (1981a) at CRIG, 7 workers by pkd from Amelonado cocoa canopy and 2 from the ground under the cocoa.

Tapinoma species A3

From Ghana at the Mampong Cemetery Farm on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1971).

Tapinoma species A54

From Ghana at the Mampong Cemetery Farm on cocoa mistletoe, and on herbs under cocoa (Room, 1971).

Tapinoma species A94

From Ghana at the Mampong Cemetery Farm on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1971).

Tapinoma species A273

From Ghana at the Mampong Cemetery Farm on herbs under cocoa (Room, 1971).

Tapinoma species 3

From Ghana on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975).

Tapinoma species 40

From Ghana on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975).

Tapinoma species 54

From Ghana on cocoa mistletoe (Room, 1975).

Tapinoma species 95

In a paper on the fauna of cocoa mistletoe in Ghana, Room (1972a) described it as a mimic of Crematogaster clariventris, with a similar orange gaster.

Tapinoma species 4

Collected in one cocoa plot at Nko'emvon, Cameroun, by Jackson (1984), in pitfall traps and ground searches, some 100-200 individuals on each collection date.

href="tapinoma.htm"