Tapinolepis

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online

Hita Garcia, Wiesel and Fischer (2013) - A small, species-poor genus with just 14 species restricted to the Afrotropical and Malagasy regions (Bolton, 2012). Until the last decade Tapinolepis was regarded as a synonym of Anoplolepis, but was reinstated as a good genus by Bolton (2003). Revisions or keys treating Tapinolepis as a genus have not been published yet. The biology of most species is unknown.

Identification

 

Distribution

Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps

Species by Region

Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.

Afrotropical Region Australasian Region Indo-Australian Region Malagasy Region Nearctic Region Neotropical Region Oriental Region Palaearctic Region
Species 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Total Species 2840 1735 3042 932 835 4378 1740 2862

Biology

Castes

Morphology

Worker Morphology

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  • Antennal segment count: 11
  • Antennal club: absent
  • Palp formula: 6,4
  • Spur formula: 0, 0
  • Scrobes: absent
  • Caste: size-variable to weakly polymorphic
  • Sting: absent

Phylogeny

Formicinae
Myrmelachistini
Lasiini
Melophorini
Formicini
Gesomyrmecini

Gesomyrmex  (7 species, 12 fossil species)

Oecophyllini

Oecophylla  (15 species, 16 fossil species)

Plagiolepidini
Gigantiopini

Gigantiops  (1 species, 0 fossil species)

Santschiellini

Santschiella  (1 species, 0 fossil species)

Myrmoteratini

Myrmoteras  (41 species, 0 fossil species)

Camponotini

See Phylogeny of Formicinae for details.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • TAPINOLEPIS [Formicinae: Plagiolepidini]
    • Tapinolepis Emery, 1925b: 18 [as subgenus of Anoplolepis]. Type-species: Plagiolepis tumidula, by monotypy.
    • Tapinolepis raised to genus and senior synonym of Mesanoplolepis: Bolton, 2003: 107, 267.
  • MESANOPLOLEPIS [junior synonym of Tapinolepis]
    • Mesanoplolepis Santschi, 1926a: 14 [as subgenus of Anoplolepis]. Type-species: Plagiolepis simulans, by original designation.
    • Mesanoplolepis junior synonym of Tapinolepis: Bolton, 2003: 107, 267.

References

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