Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius, 1793)

Barreno, Marissa, López, Myriam Arias de, Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex & Molina-Moreira, Natalia, 2025, A first overview of ant diversity in mangroves along the Ecuadorian coast, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20240062) 69 (1), pp. 1-16 : 6

Tapinoma melanocephalum (Fabricius, 1793) ( Fig. 8 )

Identification: Characterized by its coloration pattern, with the head and mesosoma ranging from brown to light brown, and having a pale gaster. At first glance, it can be confused with T. atriceps , which has a brown or dark brown head and gaster, but T. melanocephalum has its third and fourth maxillary palpomeres widened in a spatula shape ( Guerrero, 2018).

Comments: Tapinoma melanocephalum is an exotic species with a cosmopolitan distribution, believed to be native to the Indo-Pacific region, now common in anthropogenic areas where it nests within buildings and house gardens ( Wetterer, 2009c; Luo and Chang, 2013). In Ecuador, it has been reported in the tropical forests of Yasuní National Park, the Andes, dry forests in the southern coast, and the Chocó ( Lattke et al., 2016; Donoso et al., 2017; Salazar-Basurto et al., 2023).

Figures

Figure 8 Tapinoma melanocephalum. a) lateral view, b) full face view, and c) dorsal view of worker. Images by Marissa Barreno and Michael Caterino.Scale 0.5 mm.