Tapinoma melanocephalum ( Fabricius, 1793 )

Sharaf, Mostafa R., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Mohamed, Amr A., Fisher, Brian L. & Aldawood, Abdulrahman S., 2020, A Preliminary Synopsis of the Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Qatar with Remarks on the Zoogeography, Annales Zoologici 70 (4), pp. 533-560 : 536-537

Tapinoma melanocephalum ( Fabricius, 1793)

( Fig. 2 A–C)

Formica melanocephala Fabricius, 1793: 353 (w.) French Guiana. Neotropical.

Diagnosis. Worker. This species is easily recognized among the members of the genus by its small size (1.20–1.90 mm) and bicolored body. Head and mesosoma brown to dark brown, antennae, maxillary palps and mandibles pale brown to yellow, gaster and legs pale yellow; prothorax laterally compressed, broadening anteriorly; mesosoma without erect hairs.

Material examined. Qatar, Rawdet Rashed , 12.iii.2005, (M.S. Abdel-Dayem leg.), 25°14.006’N, 51°12.286’E, 1 w, ( KSMA) .

Geographic distribution. This successful invasive species has a remarkable worldwide spread ( Wetterer 2009). On the Arabian Peninsula it was collected from KSA and Oman ( Collingwood 1985), Yemen (Collingwood and Agosti 1996) including the Socotra Archipelago ( Sharaf et al. 2017), and UAE ( Collingwood et al. 1997). The present collection represents the first record for Qatar.

Ecological and biological notes. This species has remarkably diverse habitat preferences ( Wetterer 2009, Sharaf et al. 2017) that range from humid and dry soil of wild vegetation to urban sites rich in organic matter, under bark and stones, in leaf litter, and sometimes nests in walls and potted plants indoors ( Ellison et al. 2012).

Figures

Figure 2. Tapinoma melanocephalum, worker, A, body in profile B, body in dorsal view C, head in full-face view, CASENT0746621 (Zach Lieberman), www.AntWeb.org.