Tapinoma arnoldi Forel
 Type
location Zimbabwe (Forel, 1913a: 139, worker; Arnold,
1915: 154, queen & male); subspecies tectum (Santschi,
1917b: 288, worker) from South Africa; all forms described
(see Bolton, 1995)  .
Forel's (1913a) description is at
 .
Arnold's (1915) translation, illuutrated, and descriptions of the
queen and male is at  .
Santschi's (1917b) description of tectum is at
 .
Arnold (1915: 154) had the following description -
Worker - TL 1.6-1.7 mm. Light brown, anterior portion of the
head, scape, 1st joint of the funiculus, mandibles, tarsi,
articulations of the legs and the petiole, yellowish. Moderately
shining and almost impunctate. A very fine pubescence on the whole
body and legs. Pilose hairs absent except on the clypeus. Head
very little longer than wide, rectangular, sides feebly convex,
angles rounded, posterior margin, almost straight. Eyes situated
within the anterior third of the sides of the head. Clypeus wider
than long, shallowly but widely emarginate on the anterior border.
Mandibles shining and feebly punctured, masticatory margin with a
few small teeth, the apical tooth larger and more acute. The scape
does not reach back as far as the occipital margin; the funiculus
is thickened towards the apex, the 1st joint as long as the 2nd,
3rd and 4th taken together, apical joint as long as the 3
preceding joints together, 2nd-9th joints wider than long.
Pro-meso, and metanotal sutures moderately distinct. Pronotum
wider than the rest of the thorax, and a little, wider than long;
mesonotum almost as long as the pronotum; dorsum of propodeum
wider than long, only half as long as the mesonotum, the declivity
oblique, longer than the dorsum, widest below, its brow rounded.
Petiole longer than wide, flattened dorso-ventrally. Gaster oval,
all the segments much wider than long.
Bulawayo, in a hollow stem of an Acacia. Plumtree, S.
Rhodesia in a hollow gall. Small nests, containing about 30
individuals. Type of female and male in my collection. (S.A.M.,
R.M., G.A. colls.) |
 The
description seems to be a close match to the form I drew and
described as - Tapinoma species T¹
TL 1.87, HL 0.50, HW 0.40, SL 0.40, PW 0.28 (Taylor, 1978: 49)
Colour all over yellow-brown. Erect hairs on ventral apex of the
gaster, on the clypeus and 2 on the fore coxa. Dense fine
pubescence. Eyes set in slight depressions on the sides of the
head. Alitrunk almost flat in profile, with propodeum obtusely
angled and the declivity flat.
In Nigeria, I collected it from a nest in dead wood on a
cocoa tree at CRIN. |
The
photomontage is of specimens collected in Cameroun -
south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and
Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 13 and Cameroon
14 from location EBO, 24 March 2001; both sets from in caulinary
domatia of Leonardoxa africana africana. Femora and scapes
matching body and head but tibiae, tarsi and funiculi white. All
borders smoothly rounded.