Tetramorium sericeiventre Emery

Bolton, B., 1979, The ant tribe Tetramoriini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The genus Tetramorium Mayr in the Malagasy region and in the New World., Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology 38, pp. 129-181 : -

Tetramorium sericeiventre Emery

(Figs 34, 35)

Tetramorium sericeiventre Emery, 1877: 370 . Syntype worker, Ethiopia: Sciotel (Beccari) (MHN, Geneva) [examined]. Tetramorium blochmanii Forel, 1887: 384 . Syntype workers, Madagascar: nr Tamatave, Bois de l´Ivondro (C. Keller) (MHN, Geneva) [examined]. Syn. n.

Worker. Very close to the above but more strongly sculptured. The dorsal surfaces of the head and alitrunk with conspicuous longitudinal rugae, the spaces between which are filled with a dense reticulatepuncturation and are matt and dull. The first gastral tergite is usually completely sculptured, matt and dull, but in a few the sculpture is distinctly stronger on the basal half of the tergite than on the apical.

T. sericeiventre is perhaps the commonest member of its genus in Africa in arid or semi-desert conditions or in any locality where the soil is insolated, sandy and well drained. It occurs from the Mediterranean littoral to the Cape and from the western to the eastern coasts. In the Malagasy region it is decidedly less common and appears to take second place to quadrispinosum .