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Tapinoma ramulorum
| Tapinoma ramulorum | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Dolichoderinae |
| Genus: | Tapinoma |
| Species: | T. ramulorum |
| Binomial name | |
| Tapinoma ramulorum Emery, 1896
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| Subspecies | |
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I have taken this species frequently at San Jose, Costa Rica, nesting in dry twigs of various trees. Emery's specimens were found in the same locality in dry twigs of the "tuete" (Vernonia brachiata Bentham). Wheeler (1934)
Identification
Scapes of variable length, extending beyond margin of vertex but never a third their length; in full face view, margin of vertex medially emarginate; gaster the same color as mesosoma and head or darker; nests in live or dead plant cavities (Jack Longino).
Distribution
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 21.49718° to -13.066667°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Colombia, Costa Rica (type locality), Trinidad and Tobago.
Distribution based on AntMaps
Distribution based on AntWeb specimens
Check data from AntWeb
Countries Occupied
| Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species. |
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Estimated Abundance
| Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species. |
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Biology
Jack Longino: This is the most abundant species in vegetated habitats of Costa Rica. It occurs in most habitats, from sea level to middle elevations. Nests are in almost any kind of preformed plant cavity, but the chambers are usually very small and may not be sharply bounded. Nests can occur in tiny dead twigs (down to 5mm outside diameter, 3mm inside diameter), larger dead branches, under bits of loose bark, in cavities in live stems, under and in epiphyte mats, in the bases of bromeliads, and sometimes in myrmecophytes. Tapinoma ramulorum may be found nesting close to other ant nests. For example, a dead branch with a Camponotus nest in the center may have a T. ramulorum nest under the loose bark or bits of rotten wood on the surface of the branch. Colonies are often polygynous.
Castes
Worker
Images from AntWeb
   
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| Syntype of Tapinoma ramulorum. Worker. Specimen code casent0904028. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy. |
Queen
Images from AntWeb
   
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| Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code inbiocri002281796. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | |
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- ramulorum. Tapinoma ramulorum Emery, 1896g: 101 (w.q.m.) COSTA RICA. Current subspecies: nominal plus annellatum, inrectum, saga, satullum, toltecum. See also: Wheeler, W.M. 1934g: 178.
Type Material
- Syntype, worker, queen, male, San Jose, Costa Rica; inhabiting dry twigs of a tree (Vernonia brachiata).
Taxonomic Notes
Emery described this species as having scape surpassing occiput by one to one and a half times diameter. I am using this name to hold a large number of specimens that exhibit what seems like too much variation to be intraspecific. But at this point I cannot make any further distinctions. The variation is in scape length and color, and this variation is also reflected in the queens (Jack Longino).
Description
References
- Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
- Baena, M.L., Escobar, F., Valenzuela, J.E. 2019. Diversity snapshot of green–gray space ants in two Mexican cities. International Journal of Tropical Insect Science 40, 239–250 (doi:10.1007/s42690-019-00073-y).
- Emery, C. 1896g. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XVII-XXV. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 28: 33-107 (page 101, worker, queen, male described)
- García-Avendaño, E.I. & Guerrero, R.J. 2018. Taxonomía y distribución de las hormigas del género Tapinoma (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) en Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 44 (2): 223-237 (doi:10.25100/socolen.v44i2.7324).
- Pazmiño-Palomino, A., Troya, A. 2022. Ants of Ecuador: new species records for a megadiverse country in South America. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 66(2):e20210089 (doi:10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2021-0089).
- Varela-Hernández, F., Medel-Zosayas, B., Martínez-Luque, E.O., Jones, R.W., De la Mora, A. 2020. Biodiversity in central Mexico: Assessment of ants in a convergent region. Southwestern Entomologist 454: 673-686.
- Wheeler, W. M. 1934g. Neotropical ants collected by Dr. Elisabeth Skwarra and others. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 77: 157-240 (page 178, see also)
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Baroni Urbani C. 1977. Katalog der Typen von Formicidae (Hymenoptera) der Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Basel (2. Teil). Mitt. Entomol. Ges. Basel (n.s.) 27: 61-102.
- Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
- Emery C. 1896. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. XVII-XXV. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 28: 33-107.
- Emery C. 1913. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Dolichoderinae. Genera Insectorum 137: 1-50.
- Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
- INBio Collection (via Gbif)
- Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
- Mirmecofauna de la reserva ecologica de San Felipe Bacalar
- Varela-Hernandez, F., M. Rocha-Ortega, R. W. Jones, and W. P. Mackay. 2016. Insectos: Hormigas (Formicidae) del estado de Queretaro, Mexico. Pages 397-404 in W. Jones., and V. Serrano-Cardenas, editors. Historia Natural de Queretaro. Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Mexico.