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Formicidae
Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus, 1758)
EOL Text
Tetramorium caespitum workers are an intermediate host of the poultry tapeworms Raillietina tetragona and Raillietina chinobothrida.
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(Figs 37, 49)
Formica caespitum L. , 1758: 581. Holotype female, Europe (' in Europae tuberibus') (holotype not in Linnean Society collection, London). Tetramorium caespitum (L.) ; Mayr, 1855: 426. Tetramorium caespitum var. immigrans Santschi , 1927: 54. Syntype workers, Chile: Valparaiso (Miss Edwards) (probably in NM, Basle; not seen). Syn. n. Myrmica (Myrmica) brevinodis var. transversinodis Enzmann , 1946: 47, figs 1, 2. Holotype worker, _ U. S. A.: Massachusetts, Dedham (in private coll. J. Enzmann; not seen). [Synonymy by Brown, 1949: 47; also Creighton, 1950: 291.]
Worker. With the group characters given above; the head densely and finely longitudinally rugulose everywhere. Spaces between rugulae with feeble ground sculpture, mostly shining. Head without unsculptured patches, without reticular or rugoreticular sculpture. Dorsal alitrunk longitudinally rugulose but on the posterior portion of the propodeal dorsum the rugulae being replaced by fine reticulatepunctate sculpture. Dorsal surfaces of petiole and postpetiole finely sculptured but each with a smooth median area or smooth median longitudinal strip. First gastral tergite unsculptured. Metanotal groove impressed in profile, the propodeal spines usually slightly longer than their basal width, but sometimes represented only by a pair of broadly triangular teeth. Pubescence of hind tibiae short and fine, decumbent to appressed.
During this study I have examined specimens from Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, all falling within the range given by Creighton (1950). The var. transversinodis of Enzmann, noted above, is accepted as an absolute synonym of caespitum without question for, although I have not seen the holotype, the figures and description fit the species very well.
The status of var. immigrans is a little more dubious. It was first recorded from Chile by Santschi (1922) as T. caespitum but later he described it as caespitum var. immigrans (1927), both records being based on the same specimens from Valparaiso. Snelling & Hunt (1975) in their review of the Chilean ant fauna note the 1922 record but state that they had seen no material in their survey. Under these circumstances I think it best to assume that the Chilean record represents a casual introduction and to refer immigrans to the synonymy of caespitum . Sporadic introductions of caespitum in the neotropics are probably uncommon but I have seen material originating in Belize and Mexico during the course of this investigation.
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“ Tetramorium caespitum HNS sensu lato”
Species morphologically similar to T. caespitum (Linnaeus HNS , 1758) are the dominant Tetramorium HNS ants in temperate parts of Eurasia. Cammaerts et al. (1985) distinguished T. impurum (Foerster HNS , 1850) from T. caespitum HNS in central Europe based on male genitalic characters. It has recently become clear that the T. caespitum HNS / impurum HNS species complex constitutes in fact an assembly of cryptic species, which cannot yet be delimited clearly or assigned valid names (Steiner et al. 2002; Schlick-Steiner et al., 2006). More than one species is included within the current concepts of both T. caespitum HNS and T. impurum HNS . Throughout this paper we use the term “ T. caespitum HNS s.l.” to denote species of the complex.
- Güsten, R., Schulz, A., Sanetra, M. (2006): Redescription of Tetramorium forte Forel, 1904 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a western Mediterranean ant species. Zootaxa 1310, 1-35: 27-27, URL:http://antbase.org/ants/publications/21095/21095.pdf
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Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/C9411ADAC10FEABF248DCE129B5072A7 |
- Kairouan.
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Source | http://antbase.org/ants/publications/4001/4001.pdf |
Pavement ants excavate large amounts of sand and soil from under roads, walkways and shallow building foundations. Over time this activity can cause these items to sink and settle causing structural damage. The most common complaint about pavement ants however, is of ants foraging for food in peoples houses. These ants can also sting.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (bites or stings); household pest
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Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus HNS 1758)
I [introduced species]
- Ward, P. S. (2005): A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 936, 1-68: null, URL:http://antbase.org/ants/publications/21008/21008.pdf
License | Public Domain |
Rights holder/Author | No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation. |
Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/6494343C1229C8A3A36E7BF87EFF239E |
Es duerfte interessant sein, zu erwaehnen, dass diese Art auch aus Hongkong von der Novara-Expedition mitgebracht wurde.
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Source | http://antbase.org/ants/publications/4445/4445.pdf |
Pavement ants provide no direct economic benefit to humans.
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Tetramorium caespitum HNS s.l.
Greece , Pref. Corinthia , Killini N-slope ; Germany , State Rheinland-Pfalz , Lorchhausen ; France , Dept. Gard , 15 km nnwLe Vigan ; Spain , Prov. Girona , 5 km sseCamprodon ; Spain , Prov. Granada , Puerto de la Ragua
- Güsten, R., Schulz, A., Sanetra, M. (2006): Redescription of Tetramorium forte Forel, 1904 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a western Mediterranean ant species. Zootaxa 1310, 1-35: 29-29, URL:http://antbase.org/ants/publications/21095/21095.pdf
License | Public Domain |
Rights holder/Author | No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation. |
Source | http://treatment.plazi.org/id/0D18EA1ADBC8991330FD01540E2919AB |
Tetramorium caespitum tend to nest under sidewalks, stones, pavement, and in the crevices of housing structures (Day 1998).
Pavement ants prefer a temperature range of 10-40 degrees Celsius (Holldobler 1990).
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban
- Day, E. 1998. "Pavement Ant" (On-line). Accessed 23 Nov 2001 at http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/pavement.html.
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Rights holder/Author | ©1995-2013, The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors |
Source | http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Tetramorium_caespitum/ |