Tetramorium caespitum are native to Europe and were introduced to North America in the 1700's. Pavement ants are now found in most of the eastern and southern United States.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); palearctic (Native )
Tetramorium caespitum is the host for many parasitic ant species. The most common is Teleutomyrmex schneideri. The T. schneideri queen lives with the T. caespitum queen, often sitting on the pavement ant queen's back in order remain within the nest. Other parasitic ants include Anergates atratlus and species of Strongylognathus.
Pavement ants may host the caterpillars of lycaenid butterflies, including Lycaeides melissa. The caterpillars secret sugary compounds that the ants consume, and the ants allow the caterpillars to spend the winter in their nest.
These ants also aerate soil as they dig their nests.
Ecosystem Impact: soil aeration
Mutualist Species:
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
Pavement ants provide no direct economic benefit to humans.
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
Tetramorium caespitum hatch from the egg as grub-like larvae, and pass through three larval instars (growth stages) before they undergo complete metamorphosis into adult physiology. T. caespitum queens (there may be more than one) lay all of the eggs in the colony, which are cared for by workers throughout the development process.
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
There is no threat to this species.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
Pavement ants use chemical signals in order to communicate with one another. When foraging for food, Tetramorium caespitum workers will leave a chemical trail by wiping their gasters on the ground as they walk. In this way, workers may follow trails to food, and also find their way back to the nest without getting lost. T. caespitum have been observed to not travel more than 30 meters from their nest, and therefore generally stay closer to home than many ant species. In addition to chemical signals (called pheromones), pavement ants use polarized light to navigate and guide their paths.
Communication Channels: visual ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones ; scent marks
Perception Channels: visual ; polarized light ; tactile ; vibrations ; chemical
Tetramorium caespitum workers are an intermediate host of the poultry tapeworms Raillietina tetragona and Raillietina chinobothrida.
Tetramorm caespitum are scavengers and will eat almost anything left within their territory. T. caespitum tend to be drawn toward sugary food. The pavement ant also stores seeds and grains in its nest for later use. T. caespitum has a mutualistic relationship with several species of lycaenid caterpillar. Pavement ants drink nectar produced by the caterpillars, and in return ants provide shelter and protect the caterpillers from predators.
Animal Foods: body fluids; carrion ; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit; nectar; pollen; flowers; sap or other plant fluids
Foraging Behavior: stores or caches food
Primary Diet: omnivore ; coprophage
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
Individual workers live approximately 5 years, and queens may live much longer than that. Tetramorium caespitum are very adaptable to changes in their environment.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 5 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 5 years.
Tetramorium caespitum have dark brown bodies with pale legs. Both queen and male ants are larger than workers. Both queens and males have wings, which fall off shortly after mating. A typical worker (which is an unfertilized, sterile female) is about 3.25mm while the queen is about 8mm long. Pavement ants have 12-segmented antennae with a three -segmented club. On females, the thorax has a pair of small spines on the upper part while males do not have spines on their back. A stinger is present, and the pedicel has two segmented parts. Worker pavement ants have distinguishing characteristics. They have two clearly visible humps, and grooves or ridges running from anterior to the posterior part of their bodies (National Pest Management Assoc., 2001).
A colony can sustain about 10,000 workers who weigh about 6.5g in the aggregate (Wilson 1971).
Range length: 2 to 4 mm.
Average length: 3.25 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry ; polymorphic ; venomous
T. caespitum has a foul taste when eaten due to a toxin produced by the species. Pavement ants also possess a stinger, and give off a smell of banana oil that aids in deterring potential predators.
Known Predators:
Both queen and male ants have wings until shortly after mating. When environmental conditions are right, virgin queens and males fly into the air in order to copulate (called their nuptial flight). After mating takes place, they lose their wings and the young queens set out to start their nests while the males die. The queen stores all of the sperm from her nuptial flight in her spermatheca. There is enough sperm from that one flight that she can fertilize all of her eggs for the rest of her life.
Mating System: polyandrous ; eusocial
Pavement ants have polygyne colonies (colonies that may have more than one queen). This means there colonies can grow very quickly and very large since there is more than one egg layer. Queens lay fertilized eggs that become workers or other queens, and unfertilized eggs that either develop into male ants or eaten by the colony. One queen will lay anywhere from five to forty eggs per day.
The queen stores all of the sperm from her nuptial flight in her spermatheca. There is enough sperm from that one flight that she can fertilize all of her eggs for the rest of her life.
Breeding season: June-July
Range gestation period: 28 to 30 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 30 to 45 days.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 30 to 45 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous ; sperm-storing ; delayed fertilization
Female workers care for all eggs, larvae, and pupae. The queen has no part in the care of her brood, her only job is to lay eggs.
Prefers grassland, especially steppe and rock steppe, also urban. Nests in soil, under rocks and in small loam hills. Observation by J. Longino, 22 Mar 2012. This observation relates to whichever cryptic species of this complex inhabits Salt Lake City, Utah. The city has massive battles on the sidewalks. The first warm day of the season, above 15C, was on 15 Mar and I saw the first battle. Sometimes these battles seem to be a matter of grappling only, with very few casualties. But today was different. At 6:00pm I saw a mass of workers on the sidewalk. They were in a roughly circular patch over a sidewalk crack, a dense mass of grappling workers several ants deep, the circular mass around 20cm dia. A column of workers extended from the mass, about 1.5m long, through the grass at the side of the sidewalk to another crack. I returned at 7:30pm and found a triangular patch of more thinly spread workers, in an area of about 400 square cm. There was a low density of live workers, but most of the layer was dead workers, most of them dismembered. I counted the number of dead workers in a 2x2cm patch, got 60 workers, an estimated 6000 dead workers in the patch.
By James Trager: This is the famous pavement ant, long known as T. caespitum. It is a very common, yet apparently undescribed component of the urban ant fauna of Europe, North America and temperate Argentina. Tetramorium sp. E also occurs in xeric, sandy or rocky natural areas. It is host to three famous parasitic ant genera, Harpagoxenus, Anergates, Teleutomyrmex; these ranging from dulotic grading into inquilinous with workers, to workerless inquilinous, to ectoparasitic(!), respectively. The diet consists of any sort of dead animal matter and seeds, with occasional honeydew-gathering. Tetramorium sp. E has been displaced in some Missouri locations in recent decades, especially in the St. Louis region and adjacent portions of Illinois, by T. tsushimae.
Extant: 5 valid subspecies
Formica caespitum Linnaeus, 1758 PDF: 581 (w.) EUROPE. Palearctic. Secondary type information: Wagner et al., 2017 PDF: 114: Type locality. Floghult Bohuslan (Sweden), 58.97° N, 11.42° E, 100 m a.s.l., leg. C.A. Collingwood, 21.VI. 2000. AntCat AntWiki HOLTaxonomic history
[Misspelled as caespitosa by Emery, 1924f PDF: 276 (misspelling incorrectly attributed to Walckenaer, 1802: 166); misspelled as cespitum by Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 567.].Latreille, 1798 PDF: 50 (q.m.); Mayr, 1855 PDF: 428 (q.m.); Wheeler, 1909g PDF: 182 (l.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1954d PDF: 445 (l.); Hauschteck, 1961 PDF: 221 (k.); Imai, 1966b PDF: 119 (k.).Combination Manica: Jurine, 1807 PDF: 279.Combination in Myrmica: Latreille, 1809 PDF: 131; Latreille, 1818b PDF: 149; Losana, 1834 PDF: 327.Combination in Tetramorium: Mayr, 1855 PDF: 426.Status as species: Linnaeus, 1761 PDF: 427; Scopoli, 1763 PDF: 313; Linnaeus, 1767 PDF: 963; Fabricius, 1775 PDF: 393; Fabricius, 1782: 491; Fabricius, 1787 PDF: 309; Gmelin, 1790 PDF: 2800; Christ, 1791 PDF: 503; Olivier, 1792: 496; Fabricius, 1793 PDF: 358; Latreille, 1798 PDF: 50; Latreille, 1802a PDF: 251; Walckenaer, 1802: 166; Fabricius, 1804 PDF: 406; Jurine, 1807 PDF: 279; Latreille, 1809 PDF: 131; Lamarck, 1817 PDF: 98; Latreille, 1818b PDF: 149; Billberg, 1820: 104; Stephens, 1829b: 356; Losana, 1834 PDF: 327; Zetterstedt, 1838: 450; Schilling, 1839 PDF: 56; Smith, 1851 PDF: 4; Curtis, 1854: 215; Mayr, 1855 PDF: 426 (redescription); Smith, 1855b PDF: 122; Nylander, 1856b PDF: 86; Gredler, 1858 PDF: 23; Smith, 1858b PDF: 279; Smith, 1858a PDF: 117; Mayr, 1861 PDF: 61 (in key); Meinert, 1861: 330; Mayr, 1862 PDF: 740; Roger, 1863b PDF: 26; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 456; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 89; Emery, 1869b PDF: 16; Mayr, 1870b PDF: 973; Smith, 1871c: 3; Dours, 1873 PDF: 168; Forel, 1874 PDF: 72 (in key); André, 1874b: 191 (in key); Mayr, 1877a: 15; Emery, 1878a PDF: x (in list); Emery, 1878: 51; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 457; Emery, 1880 PDF: 392; Mayr, 1880 PDF: 35; Saunders, 1880 PDF: 218; Emery, 1881b PDF: 529; André, 1881c PDF: 70; André, 1883a: 285 (in key); Emery, 1884: 380; White, 1884 PDF: 263; Mayr, 1886d PDF: 453; Forel, 1886e PDF: clxviii; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 261; Forel, 1889 PDF: 258; Nasonov, 1889: 29; Saunders, 1890 PDF: 204; Emery, 1891c: 2; Forel, 1892j PDF: 315; Lameere, 1892: 67; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 131; Emery, 1893e PDF: 84; Medina, 1893 PDF: 105; Forel, 1894d PDF: 17; Emery, 1895d PDF: 324; Forel, 1895e PDF: 227; Ruzsky, 1896 PDF: 72; Saunders, 1896 PDF: 33; Forel, 1900h PDF: 268; Ruzsky, 1902a PDF: 234; Ruzsky, 1902d PDF: 32; Ruzsky, 1903b PDF: 309; Forel, 1904c PDF: 371; Ruzsky, 1905b: 519; Wheeler, 1905j PDF: 386; Wheeler, 1906j PDF: 350; Forel, 1906c PDF: 189; Wasmann, 1906 PDF: 119; Forel, 1907h PDF: 15; Forel, 1909c PDF: 103; Emery, 1909f PDF: 697; Wheeler, 1909g PDF: 182; Bondroit, 1910 PDF: 498; Karavaiev, 1910 PDF: 269; Karavaiev, 1911a PDF: 50; Santschi, 1910e PDF: 650; Yano, 1910a PDF: 420; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 567; Karavaiev, 1911b PDF: 8; Karavaiev, 1912b PDF: 583; Krausse, 1912c PDF: 164; Stitz, 1914 PDF: 75; Emery, 1914c PDF: 158; Forel, 1915d: 14 (in key); Donisthorpe, 1915f: 170; Ruzsky, 1916: 5; Wheeler & Mann, 1916 PDF: 171; Wheeler, 1916r: 589; Escherich, 1917: 327; Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 107; Nadig, 1918 PDF: 339; Santschi, 1919e PDF: 241; Santschi, 1921a PDF: 111; Menozzi, 1921 PDF: 30; Finzi, 1922a PDF: 120; Wheeler, 1922: 894; Menozzi, 1922c PDF: 330; Soudek, 1922b PDF: 56; Kulmatycki, 1922 PDF: 76; Santschi, 1922e PDF: 253; Finzi, 1923a PDF: 4; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1923b PDF: 253; Müller, 1923b PDF: 101; Finzi, 1924a PDF: 14; Emery, 1924b PDF: 12; Emery, 1924f PDF: 276; Lomnicki, 1925b PDF: 2; Emery, 1925a PDF: 177; Ruzsky, 1925a PDF: 288; Ruzsky, 1925b PDF: 45; Schkaff, 1925b PDF: 275; Betrem, 1926 PDF: 218; Donisthorpe, 1926a PDF: 8; Essig, 1926 PDF: 862; Wheeler, 1926a PDF: 4; Karavaiev, 1926c PDF: 167; Santschi, 1926f PDF: 287; Stärcke, 1926a PDF: 88 (in key); Karavaiev, 1927a PDF: 293; Karavaiev, 1927d: 270 (in key); Karavaiev, 1927e PDF: 335; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 190; Wheeler, 1927g PDF: 111; Kutter, 1927a PDF: 100; Lomnicki, 1928 PDF: 4; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1928b PDF: 28; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929a PDF: 29; Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1929b PDF: 43; Karavaiev, 1930b PDF: 147; Karavaiev, 1931a PDF: 315; Karavaiev, 1931c PDF: 107; Soudek, 1931 PDF: 10; Gösswald, 1932 PDF: 81; Arnol'di, 1933a: 597 (in key); Santschi, 1933a PDF: 21; Menozzi, 1933b PDF: 75 (in key); Karavaiev, 1934: 155 (redescription); Goetsch & Menozzi, 1935 PDF: 97; Grandi, 1935 PDF: 101; Karavaiev, 1935b PDF: 108; Röszler, 1935 PDF: 72; Zimmermann, 1935 PDF: 37; Röszler, 1936b PDF: 57; Ruzsky, 1936 PDF: 93; Wheeler, 1936g PDF: 12; Teranishi, 1940: 18; Wesson & Wesson, 1940 PDF: 98; Novák & Sadil, 1941 PDF: 87 (in key); Röszler, 1942a PDF: 50; Smith, 1943b PDF: 2 (in key); Holgersen, 1944a PDF: 170; Kratochvíl, in Kratochvíl et al., 1944 PDF: 67; Ruzsky, 1946 PDF: 70; Van Boven, 1947b PDF: 174 (in key); Forsslund, 1947 PDF: 68; Arnol'di, 1948a PDF: 211 (in list); Röszler, 1950 PDF: 223; Röszler, 1951: 88; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 291; Donisthorpe, 1950e PDF: 1062; Smith, 1951c PDF: 823; Consani & Zangheri, 1952 PDF: 42; Ceballos, 1956: 307; Bernard, 1956b PDF: 259; Brown, 1957d PDF: 1; Smith, 1958c PDF: 134; Bernard, 1959a PDF: 349; Carter, 1962a PDF: 7 (in list); Dlussky, 1962 PDF: 178; Kempf, 1962b PDF: 23; Yasumatsu, 1962 PDF: 96; Baroni Urbani, 1964a PDF: 6; Baroni Urbani, 1964b PDF: 53; Baroni Urbani, 1964c PDF: 158; Bernard, 1967a PDF: 232 (redescription); Pisarski, 1967a PDF: 402; Smith, 1967a PDF: 360; Wilson & Taylor, 1967b PDF: 70; Yarrow, 1967 PDF: 28; Baroni Urbani, 1968e PDF: 464; Kutter, 1968b: 60; Collingwood & Yarrow, 1969 PDF: 74; Pisarski, 1970a PDF: 318; Dlussky & Pisarski, 1970 PDF: 86; Kempf, 1970b PDF: 25; Baroni Urbani, 1971c PDF: 135; Collingwood, 1971 PDF: 162; Banert & Pisarski, 1972 PDF: 352; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 249; Baroni Urbani, 1974a PDF: 235; Bolton & Collingwood, 1975: 4 (in key); Pisarski, 1975: 25; Tarbinsky, 1976 PDF: 106 (redescription); Collingwood, 1976a PDF: 304; Aktaç, 1977 PDF: 122; Azuma, 1977a PDF: 116; Van Boven, 1977 PDF: 92; Kutter, 1977c: 157; Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 544 (in key); Collingwood, 1978 PDF: 86 (in key); Smith, 1979: 1400; Collingwood, 1979 PDF: 84; Bolton, 1979 PDF: 171; Onoyama, 1980a PDF: 197; Collingwood, 1981 PDF: 27; Dlussky, 1981b PDF: 17; Schembri & Collingwood, 1981 PDF: 434; Allred, 1982: 507; Cammaerts et al., 1985: 109; Wheeler & Wheeler, 1986g PDF: 54; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a PDF: 56; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 277 (in key); Nilsson & Douwes, 1987: 58; Kugler, 1988: 257; Wang et al., 1988: 267; DuBois & LaBerge, 1988: 143; Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 200; Kupyanskaya, 1990a: 151; Casevitz-Weulersse, 1990c PDF: 420; Brandão, 1991 PDF: 381; Le Moli & Rosi, 1991: 31; López, 1991a: 31; López, 1991b: 73 (redescription); Ogata, 1991b PDF: 102; Radchenko, 1992a PDF: 45 (in key); Radchenko, 1992b PDF: 50; Wang, 1992: 680; Wu & Wang, 1992c PDF: 1309; Morisita et al., 1992: 35; López et al., 1992: 169; Collingwood, 1993b PDF: 195; Arakelian, 1994 PDF: 62; Radchenko, 1994b: 110 (in key); Wheeler et al., 1994 PDF: 304; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Douwes, 1995: 91; Mei, 1995 PDF: 765; Poldi et al., 1995: 5; Tang et al., 1995: 80; Wu & Wang, 1995a: 82; Espadaler, 1997g PDF: 31; Radchenko et al., 1998: 108; Collingwood & Prince, 1998: 17 (in key); Gallé et al., 1998: 215; Collingwood & Heatwole, 2002 PDF: 9; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 2; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Czechowski et al., 2002 PDF: 64; Mackay & Mackay, 2002 PDF: 242; Markó & Csosz, 2002 PDF: 113; Zhang & Zheng, 2002 PDF: 219; Karaman & Karaman, 2003 PDF: 44; Csosz & Markó, 2004 PDF: 51; Coovert, 2005 PDF: 84; Karaman & Karaman, 2005 PDF: 56; MacGown & Forster, 2005 PDF: 70; Ward, 2005 PDF: 37; Bračko, 2006 PDF: 142; Petrov, 2006 PDF: 70, 100 (in key); Steiner et al., 2006 PDF: 179 (in table); Zhou, 2006 PDF: 583; Seifert, 2007: 248; Werner & Wiezik, 2007 PDF: 141; Zryanin & Zryanina, 2007 PDF: 232; Gratiashvili & Barjadze, 2008 PDF: 143; Casevitz-Weulersse & Galkowski, 2009 PDF: 497; Lapeva-Gjonova et al., 2010 PDF: 27; Boer, 2010: 67; Csosz et al., 2011 PDF: 57; Karaman, 2011b PDF: 54; Legakis, 2011 PDF: 20; Bharti & Kumar, 2012b 10.3897/zookeys.207.3040 PDF: 31 (in key); Borowiec & Salata, 2012 PDF: 547; Czechowski et al., 2012: 175; Guénard & Dunn, 2012 PDF: 56; Ellison et al., 2012: 332; Kiran & Karaman, 2012 PDF: 26; Borowiec, 2014 PDF: 195 (see note in bibliography); Tohmé & Tohmé, 2014 PDF: 136; Lebas et al., 2016: 384; Radchenko, 2016: 244; Wagner et al., 2017 PDF: 114 (redescription); Wagner et al., 2018 10.1038/s41598-018-30890-z PDF: 4 (in list); Salata & Borowiec, 2018c 10.5281/zenodo.2199191 PDF: 50; Seifert, 2018: 227.Senior synonym of Tetramorium fusca: Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 132; Donisthorpe, 1915f: 170; Emery, 1924f PDF: 276; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 2; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Senior synonym of Tetramorium fuscula: Smith, 1851 PDF: 118; Schenck, 1852 PDF: 86; Curtis, 1854: 215; Mayr, 1855 PDF: 427; Smith, 1855b PDF: 123; Nylander, 1856b PDF: 87; Smith, 1858a PDF: 117; Roger, 1863b PDF: 26; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 456; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 89; Smith, 1871c: 3; Dours, 1873 PDF: 168; André, 1874c: 203 (in list); Forel, 1874 PDF: 100 (in list); Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 458; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 132; Ruzsky, 1905b: 519; Donisthorpe, 1915f: 170; Forel, 1915d: 14; Emery, 1924f PDF: 276; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 190; Karavaiev, 1934: 156; Pisarski, 1975: 25; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 2; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2007 PDF: 31; Radchenko, 2016: 244; Wagner et al., 2017 PDF: 114.Senior synonym of Tetramorium caespitum hammi: Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 2; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244; Wagner et al., 2017 PDF: 114.Senior synonym of Tetramorium caespitum himalayanum: Radchenko, 1992b: 50; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001a: 2; Zhou, 2001b: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Senior synonym of Tetramorium jiangxiense: Wu & Wang, 1995a: 82; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 3; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Senior synonym of Tetramorium maculipes: Donisthorpe, 1915f: 171; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 190.Senior synonym of Tetramorium modesta: Curtis, 1854: 215; Mayr, 1855 PDF: 427; Nylander, 1856b PDF: 87; Smith, 1858a PDF: 117; Roger, 1863b PDF: 27; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 456; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 89; Smith, 1871c: 3; Dours, 1873 PDF: 168; André, 1874c: 203 (in list); Forel, 1874 PDF: 100 (in list); Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 458; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 132; Donisthorpe, 1915f: 171; Emery, 1924f PDF: 276; Donisthorpe, 1927c: 190; Karavaiev, 1934: 156; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 2; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Senior synonym of Tetramorium semilaeve transbaicalense: Radchenko, 1992b PDF: 50; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 3; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Senior synonym of Tetramorium transversinodis: Brown, 1949a PDF: 47; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 291; Smith, 1951c PDF: 823; Bolton, 1979 PDF: 171; Smith, 1979: 1400; Bolton, 1995b: 405; Chang & He, 2001b PDF: 3; Zhou, 2001a PDF: 104; Radchenko, 2016: 244.Material of the unavailable name Tetramorium caespitum hungaricum striatis: referred here by Markó & Csösz, 2002: 113.(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.
Es duerfte interessant sein, zu erwaehnen, dass diese Art auch aus Hongkong von der Novara-Expedition mitgebracht wurde.
Transcaucasie: Zakataly, Lagodechi, 1 [[ queen ]], 2. X. 1896 (MlokoseviC!).
Variétés diverses jaunes et noires partout, très commun. Les petites variétés claires se rapportant à peu prèsàpunicum Smith et semilaeve André sont les plus fréquentes . Ce sont elles qui servent d'esclaves àl'espèce suivante:
— Fuerteventura (31), [[ worker ]], [[ queen ]], [[ male ]]; Canana (22, 61, 78, 84), Tenerife (M. Noualhier).
La plupart des exemplaires que j'ai sous les yeux se rapportent a la race depressum , decrite recemment par M. A. Forel, dont la couleur varie beaucoup. D'autres font passage a semilaeve Andre La [[ queen ]] de depressum est tres foncee, presque noire et caractensee par la forme courte du 1 er segment du pedicule. Sa taille, ainsi que celle du [[ male ]], correspond a telle des exemplaires mediterraneens de semilaeve .
Quelques [[ worker ]] de Tenerife ne different pas sensiblement de semilaeve .
Deux [[ queen ]], l'une de Lanzarote, l'autie de Canaria, ont le mesonotum en grande partie strie; elles paraissent se rapporter a une variete a sculpture plus forte.
T. caespitum est repandu dans toute la region palearctique et la race semilaeve est l'une des plus communes dans la region mediterraneenne.
Species morphologically similar to T. caespitum (Linnaeus , 1758) are the dominant Tetramorium ants in temperate parts of Eurasia. Cammaerts et al. (1985) distinguished T. impurum (Foerster , 1850) from T. caespitum in central Europe based on male genitalic characters. It has recently become clear that the T. caespitum / impurum 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 and T. impurum . Throughout this paper we use the term “ T. caespitum s.l.” to denote species of the complex.
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
worker (Figs 15, 20): Spain , Prov. Huesca , Puerto de Monrepos
gyne (Fig. 9): Spain , Prov. Avila , 5 km swEl Tiemblo
I [introduced species]
Records
(Map 38): Bulgaria ( Emery 1914 , Agosti and Collingwood 1987a , Atanassov and Dlusskij 1992 ); Western Predbalkan: Rachene river valley ( Vassilev 1984 ); Central Predbalkan: Dermantsi vill. (Lukovit) ( Atanassov 1934 , 1936 ); Western Stara Planina Mts: Vrattsata loc., Milanovo vill. ( Atanassov 1934 ), Lakatnik station ( Atanassov 1936 ), Chepan Mt. (Dragoman) ( Borisova et al. 2005 ); Central Stara Planina Mts: Teteven ( Atanassov 1934 ), Tsarichina peak ( Atanassov 1936 ); Eastern Stara Planina Mts: Sliven ( Forel 1892 ); Zemen Gorge: Skakavitsa vill., Zemen ( Atanassov 1936 ), Zemen gorge ( Lapeva-Gjonova 2004b ); Sofia Basin: Boyana ( Atanassov 1934 ); Pancharevo vill. ( Atanassov 1936 ), Sofia ( Forel 1892 , Lapeva-Gjonova and Atanasova 2004 , Antonova 2005 , Antonova and Penev 2006 , 2008 ), surroundings of Sofia near Vladaya vill. ( Atanasov 1936 , Antonova and Penev 2006 , 2008 ); Lyulin Mt.:Mihaylovo district ( Atanassov 1936 ); Vitosha Mt. ( Atanassov 1952 ); Plana Mt.: Plana vill., Pasarel vill., Richov well loc. (Dolni okol vill.), Tsiganka peak (Pasarel vill.), Yovichina mogila peak (Popovyane vill.) ( Vagalinski and Lapeva-Gjonova in press ); Podbalkan Basins: Rose valley ( Atanassov et al. 1955 ); Lozenska Planina Mt. ( Vassilev and Evtimov 1973 ): German monastery ( Atanassov 1936 , Antonova and Penev 2008 ), north of Pasarel vill. ( Antonova and Penev 2008); Thracian Lowland: Pazardzhik ( Forel 1892 , Atanassov 1936 ), Krichim ( Atanassov 1936 ); Bakadzhik-Burgas district: Aytos ( Forel 1892 ); Strandzha Mt. ( Antonova et al. in press ); Ograzhden Mt. ( Atanassov 1964 ); Belasitsa Mt. ( Atanassov 1964 ); Krupnik-Sandanski-Petrich Valley: west of Petrich ( Atanassov 1964 ); Dupnitsa Basin: Dupnitsa; Rila Mt.: Rilska river valley ( Forel 1892 ), Kostenets, Borovets ( Atanassov 1936 ); Slavianka Mt. ( Atanassov 1936 ); Mesta Valley: Petrelik vill. (Gotse Delchev) ( Lapeva-Gjonova 2004b ); Western Rhodopi Mts: Asenovgrad ( Forel 1892 ), Peshtera ( Atanassov 1936 , Lapeva-Gjonova in press (a) ), Batak, Devin, Smolyan, Rakitovo, Velingrad, Dospat ( Lapeva-Gjonova in press (a) ); Eastern Rhodopi Mts: Dedets vill. (Zlatograd), Byal Izvor vill. (Arda), Beli Plast vill. (Kardzhali), Kokiche vill. (Kardzhali), Momchilgrad, Madzharovo, Malko Popovo vill. (Madzharovo), between Dabovetz and Kamilski dol vill. (Ivaylovgrad), between Odrintsi and Svirachi vill. (Ivaylovgrad), Svirachi vill. (Ivaylovgrad) ( Lapeva-Gjonova 2004a ); Southern Black Sea coast: Pomorie, Burgas, Sozopol, Veselie vill. ( Forel 1892 ), Maslen nos, Mandra lake ( Atanassov 1934 ), Nesebar ( Barrett 1970 ).
Notes:
According to Schlick-Steiner et al. (2006b) the Tetramorium caespitum/impurum complex comprises seven Palaearctic species. The taxonomy of the complex is not properly resolved and we assume that there are several cryptic species related to Tetramorium caespitum in Bulgaria.
[[ worker ]]. Buchara orient. (Darvas, Tasch-Kurgan, 15 [[ worker ]], 22. VIII. 1897. A. Kaznakov!; 1 [[ worker ]], 1896, BarSCevskij!).
Tetramorium caespitum, also known as the pavement ant, is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.[1][2][3]
Tetramorium caespitum, also known as the pavement ant, is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.
