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genus
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Tapinoma
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Japanese Name
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Konuka-ari-zoku
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Original Reference
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Foerster, A. (1850) Hymenopterologische Studien 1. Formicariae: 74 pp. Aachen.
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Synonym
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Micromyrma Dufour, 1857,
Neoclystopsenella Kurian, 1955,
Semonius Forel, 1910,
Tapinoptera Santschi, 1925,
Zatapinoma Wheeler, 1928,
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Description
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Total length of worker ranging from about 1.5 to 5 mm. Eyes medium-sized, situated at or a little before the midlength of the head. Antennae 12-segmented. Mandibles long and somewhat slender. Palpal formula 6:4. Mesosoma narrower than head; pronotum a little wider than mesometanotum. Promesonotal suture and metanotal groove distinct. Propodeal dorsum short. Petiole not nodiform; small and overhung by first gastral tergite, so that it is often barely visible. Four gastral segments visible externally. Cloacal opening situated ventrally.
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Remarks
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Tapinoma species typically nest in dead tree branches, rotting fallen trees, rotting stumps, and in the soil. Workers forage actively on trees, herbaceous plants, and below-ground. Liquid foods, such as flower nectar, seem to be preferred. The genus is distributed widely over the world except in the arctic and subarctic zones. About 60 valid species are recognized, but more could be undescribed. In Japan, two species are known: T. melanocephalum, and another, not yet confidently determined species, formerly identified as T. indicum. The taxa "T. sp. 2" and "T. sp. 3" of the work "A List of the Ants of Japan with Common Japanese Names (Myrmecological Society of Japan Editorial Committee (ed.) (1988)" are now considered to be conspecific.
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References
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- Hymenopterologische Studien 1. Formicariae: 74 pp. Aachen.
- Myrmecological Society of Japan, Editorial Committee (ed.) (Ed.). (1988). A list of the ants of Japan with common Japanese names. The Myrmecological Society of Japan, Tokyo.
- Dufour, L. 1857. M?langes entomologiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. France, (3)5: 39-70.
- Kurian, C. 1955. Bethyloidea (Hymenoptera) from India. Agra Univ. J. Res (Sci.), 4: 67-155.
- Forel, A. 1910. Zoologische und anthropologische Ergebnisse einer Forschungsreise im westlichen und zentralen SYNdafrika ausgefYNhrt in den Jahren 1903-1905 von Dr. Leonhard Schultze. Vierter Band. Systematik und Tiergeographie. D) Formicidae. Denkschr. Med. Naturwiss. Ges. Jena, 16: 1-30.
- Santschi, F. 1925. Fourmis d'Espagne et autres esp?ces pal?arctiques (Hymenopt.). EOS Rev. Esp. Entomol., 1: 339-360.
- Wheeler, W. M., 1928
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Editor
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Original text by Keiichi Onoyama and Mamoru Terayama. Revised by Masashi Yoshimura. English translation by Keiichi Onoyama, edited by Robert W. Taylor.
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