Tapinoma

Ghost ants Tapinoma melanocephalum, copyright Kalesh Sadasivan.

Belongs within: Dolichoderinae.

Tapinoma is a cosmopolitan genus of very small, mostly arboreal ants. They are characterised by a petiole with a greatly reduced, more or less obsolete node, and a gaster with four visible tergites (Heterick 2009).

<==Tapinoma Förster 1850 FT08 (see below for synonymy)
    |--*T. erraticum (Latreille 1798) [=Formica erratica, T. collina Förster 1850] TB85
    |--T. ambiguum H09
    |--T. annandalei H09
    |--T. fragile H09
    |--T. indicum Forel 1895 [=T. melanocephalum indicum] Z01
    |--T. litorale H09
    |--T. melanocephalum (Fabricius 1793) FT08 (see below for synonymy) Z01
    |--T. minutum Mayr 1862 FT08
    |    |--T. m. minutum TB85
    |    |--T. m. broomense Forel 1915 [=T. minutum broomensis] TB85
    |    |--T. m. cephalicum Santschi 1928 [=T. (Micromyrma) minutum cephalicum] TB85
    |    `--T. m. integrum Forel 1902 TB85
    |--T. nigerrimum A71
    |--T. pallipes H09
    |--T. pomone H09
    |--T. sessile H09
    |--T. subtile H09
    `--T. williamsi H09

Tapinoma Förster 1850 FT08 [incl. Micromyrma Dufour 1857 Z01, Neoclystopsenella Kurian 1955 Z01, Tapinoptera Santschi 1925 Z01, Zatapinoma Wheeler 1928 Z01]

Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius 1793) FT08 [=Formica melanocephala Z01, Micromyrma melanocephala Z01; incl. Tapinoma (Micromyrma) melanocephalum var. australis Santschi 1928 Z01, T. (M.) melanocephalum var. australe Z01, Formica nana Jerdon 1851 non Latreille 1802 Z01, Myrmica pellucida Smith 1858 Z01]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A71] Askew, R. R. 1971. Parasitic Insects. Heinemann Educational Books: London.

[FT08] Framenau, V. W., & M. L. Thomas. 2008. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): identification and distribution. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (1): 45–85.

[H09] Heterick, B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1–206.

[TB85] Taylor, R. W., & D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. In: Walton, D. W. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 2. Hymenoptera: Formicoidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea pp. 1–149. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.

[Z01] Zhou, S. 2001. Ants of Guangxi. Guangxi Normal University Press: Guilin (China).