Tetramorium caespitum ( Linnaeus, 1758 )

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Wetterer, James K., Mohamed, AbdulAziz M. A., Georgiadis, Christos, Nasser, Mohamed G. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2024, Filling gaps in global myrmecology: ants of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Journal of Natural History 58 (41 - 44), pp. 1705-1786 : 1760-1763

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2024.2388791
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:18D05DD2-4B64-4A87-8389-582D5714411C
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14261674
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D9FD3B-FFAC-FF96-FE68-F99FA954FBE3
treatment provided by	Plazi (2024-11-28 23:36:38, last updated 2024-12-02 18:36:23)
scientific name	Tetramorium caespitum ( Linnaeus, 1758 )
status

Treatment

Tetramorium caespitum ( Linnaeus, 1758) View in CoL

( Figure 36 View Figure 36 )

Formica caespitum Linnaeus, 1758, p. 581 View in CoL View Cited Treatment (w.) Sweden. Palaearctic.

Diagnosis

Worker. TL 2.5–4 mm; uniform black-brown to black; head with parallel sides and straight posterior margin in full-face view; eyes of medium size with about 7 ommatidia on longest row, located at midline of head in full-face view; anterior clypeal margin without anterior emargination; propodeal spines short, broadly denticulate, and upward directed; head and mesosoma regularly longitudinally striate; metanotal groove distinctly impressed; dorsum of petiolar node smooth or with feebly microreticulate; gaster smooth and shining.

Material examined

One site: B.

Geographic range. A Holarctic species geographically distributed from the USA to Japan, North Africa to all of Europe ( Collingwood 1979; Wagner et al. 2017), and presumably native to the Palaearctic ( Seifert 1996) or the Oriental ( Smith 1965) regions. On the Arabian Peninsula it was recorded from the KSA ( Aldawood and Sharaf 2009).

Ecology and biology. The nesting habits of T. caespitum range from natural to urban environments ( Collingwood 1979; Seifert 2007). The natural habitats include the open borders of woodlands, meadows, pastures, heaths, arid or semi-arid grasslands, vineyards, fallow grounds, ruderal areas, road embankments, rock heaps, gravel pits, and riverbanks, while the urban territories include public parks, pavements, and roadsides ( Klotz et al. 2008). Nests are constructed directly in the earth, under stones, or in rotten or dead wood ( Smith 1965; Collingwood 1979) and there is frequently a single queen (monogyny) with thousands of workers ( Seifert 1996), or polygyny ( Martinez 1993). The species is a generalised seed harvester and an active predator on arthropods, and attends aphids for honeydew ( Smith 1965; Wagner et al. 2017). A nest series at the Asir Mountains ( KSA) was found in leaf litter and among grasses of the family Gramineae and coexisting with a single worker of Oxyopomyrmex nitidior Santschi, 1910 ( Aldawood and Sharaf 2009).

References

Aldawood AS, Sharaf MR. 2009. Two ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as new records to fauna of Saudi Arabia. Bulletin of Entomological Society of Egypt. 86: 143 - 147.

Collingwood CA. 1979. The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entom Scand. 8: 1 - 174. doi: 10.5281 / zenodo. 26691.

Klotz J, Hansen L, Pospischil R, Rust M. 2008. Urban ants of North America and Europe: identification, biology, and management. Comstock Publishing Associates. Ithaca (New York): Cornell University Press; p. 196.

Linnaeus C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae [= Stockholm]: L. Salvii; p. 824. doi: 10.5962 / bhl. title. 559.

Martinez MJ. 1993. The first field record for the ant Tetramorium bicarinatum Nylander (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in California. Pan-Pacific Entomol. 69: 272 - 273.

Seifert B. 1996. Ameisen beobachten, bestimmen. Augsburg: Naturbuch Verlag; p. 351.

Seifert B. 2007. Die Ameisen Mittel- und Nordeuropas. Germany: Lutra Verlags und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Tauer / Gorlitz; p. 386.

Smith MR. 1965. House-infesting ants of the eastern United States: their recognition, biology, and economic importance. U S Dep Agr Tech Bull. 1326: 1 - 105. doi: 10.22004 / ag. econ. 171244.

Wagner HC, Arthofer W, Seifert B, Muster C, Steiner FM, Schlick-Steiner BC. 2017. Light at the end of the tunnel: integrative taxonomy delimits cryptic species in the Tetramorium caespitum complex. Myrmecol News. 25: 95 - 129. doi: 10.25849 / myrmecol. news _ 025: 095.