Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius)

Type location French Guyana (Formica melanocephala, Fabricius, 1793: 353, worker; illustrated by Coquebert, 1799, Pl. VI; Emery, 1887a: 249, male; Forel, 1891b: 102, queen)
junior synonyms
australis (Tapinoma (Micromyrma) melanocephalum Fabr., v. australis var. n., Santschi, 1928a: 53, worker) from Samoa, Tutuila, Leone Road, 18.ii.1924, Bryan - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0903063
australe (Tapinoma (Micromyrma) melanocephalum Mayr, v. australe var. n., Santschi, 1928e: 475, worker) from Vanuatu, Santos Is., 8.viii. 1925, P A Buxton - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0911572
familiaris (Formica familiaris, F Smith, 1860b: 96, worker) from Indonesia, Bachian, Mr Wallace
nana (Formica nana, Jerdon, 1851: 125, worker) from India
pellucida (Myrmica pellucida, F Smith, 1857a: 71, worker) from Singapore, Mr Wallace - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0901925
subspecies
coronatum (Tapinoma melanocephalum F. var. coronatum n. var., Forel, 1908b: 62, worker) from Costa Rica, Punta Arenas - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0909775
malesianum (Tapinoma melanocephalum F. var. malesiana n. var., Forel, 1913k: 93, worker & queen) from Sumatra - see http://www.antweb.org/specimenImages.do?code=casent0909776
(see Bolton, 1995) .

Fabricius's (1793) description is at . Emery's (1887a) description of the male is at . Jerdon (1851) for nana gave a brief description that matches the type form, "found in all parts of India and is very abundant in Mysore". F Smith for familiaris (1860b) and gave a brief descriptions that match the type form. Forel's (1908b) description of coronatum is at . Forel's (1913k) description of malesiana does not appear to differ significantly from the type form. Santschi (1928a) gave v. australis as differing from the type in having longer palps and from var. malesiana in the darker colour of the head and a paler gaster. Santschi (1928e) gave australe as, TL 1.5 mm, pale yellow or a little darker, head brownish; palps slightly more dilated.

Illustration collated from Coquebert (1799), much enlarged, plus modern Gabon specimen.
Coquebert, De Montbret, Antoine Jean. 1799. Illustratio Iconographica Insectorum Quae in Musaeis Parisinis Obseravit et in Lucem Edidit J.C. Fabricus prćmiseis ejusdem descriptionibus ... . Decas I-III. Paris: (1798)-1825

Nigeria specimens (Taylor, 1978: 49). WORKER. TL 1.49-1.71 mm, HL 0.45, HW 0.37, SL 0.42, PW 0.23
Colour of head and alitrunk dark yellow-brown, gaster yellow, extremities pale yellow. Dense fine pubescence all over, erect setae on clypeus and gastral apex only. Alitrunk in profile near smoothly convex, with slight metanotal depression in the convexity and the propodeal declivity straight. A domestic species which is common in houses.

Found in Ghana at the Mampong Cemetery Farm on cocoa mistletoe by Room (1971, 1975) and on cocoa at Kade by Majer (1975, 1976b), using pkd, with 20-27 workers per sample.

Also from Conakry, Guinea (by Silvestri, in Wheeler, 1922).

Hölldobler & Wilson (1990, page 213-5) describe it as an 'opportunistic nester', utilising almost any crack or crevice.

The photomontage is of workers collected in Gabon, Pongara NP; collector Yves Braet (Gabon 58).

The photomontage is of workers from The Maldives, North Malé Atoll, Ihuru Island, 4°18'36"N 73°25'26"E, 2008, collected by Marco Aita. Collected foraging on the ground.