Tetramorium lanuginosum Mayr, 1870

Fig. 49

Tetramorium lanuginosum Mayr, 1870: 976 (w) Indonesia (Java). Indomalaya.

Diagnosis

Color ranges from light brown to dark brown, gaster darker than body; anterior clypeal margin with small median notch; cephalic surface strongly reticulate-rugose; eyes with 8–10 ommatidia in longest row; frontal carinae well-marked; antennal scrobes well-defined; mesosoma convex in profile; metanotal groove indistinct; propodeal spines long and sharp; gaster smooth and shiny; body hairs long and profuse, bifid and simple.

Material examined

Holotype

INDONESIA • Java, Batavia; CASENT0235202; NHMW.

Additional material

OMAN – Dhofar • 1 w; Dhalkout, 16.727° N, 53.249° E; alt. 623 m; 18 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 2 w; Dhalkout Road, Aghbaroot Village; 16.798° N, 53.554° E; alt. 1034 m; 18 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 5 w; Ayn Dirbat; 17.106° N, 54.453° E; alt. 207 m; 17 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; Salalah; 17.019° N, 54.065° E; alt. 9 m; 18 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 5 w; Dhalkout; 16.707° N, 53.251° E; alt. 34 m; 19 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 1 w; same collection data as for preceding; CASENT0922857; CASC • 1 w; Ayn Razat; 17.124° N, 54.238° E; alt. 98 m; 20 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA • 11 w; Dhalkout; 16.693° N, 53.156° E; alt. 628 m; 18 Nov. 2017; SF; M.R. Sharaf leg.; KSMA .

Ecological and biological notes

The diverse nesting and feeding habits presumably has allowed a successful worldwide distribution. Nests are built in moist soil under stones, in leaf litter (Sharaf et al. 2018a), under trunks of dead palm trees, and in soil that is rich in organic matter (Sharaf et al. 2017c). In Dhofar, workers are foraging on ground in a shaded area with dense plant cover of grasses and shrubs.

Geographic range

It is a successful tramp species, originally described from Indonesia which has widely dispersed into tropical and subtropical regions (Bolton 1976; Wetterer 2010a; Hita Garcia & Fisher 2011; Agavekar et al. 2017). It has been previously collected from Oman (Sharaf et al. 2018a), KSA (Collingwood & Agosti 1996), the Socotra Archipelago (Collingwood et al. 2004; Sharaf et al. 2017c), Egypt (Sharaf 2006), and Palestine (Vonshak & Ionescu-Hirsch 2009). This species is recorded for the first time in Dhofar.