Tetramorium simillimum (F. Smith)

Type location Great Britain (Myrmica simillima, F. Smith, 1851: 118, worker); junior synonyms bantouana (Santschi, 1910c: 382, illustrated, all forms) from Congo, M'Bamou, by Weiss, brevispinosa (Wasmannia auropunctata ssp brevispinosum, Borgmeier, 1928a: 36, illustrated, worker) from Brazil, denticulatum (Forel, 1902c: 235, worker) from India, exoleta (Santschi, 1914d: 366, worker) from Nigeria, at Lagos, F. Silvestri, opacior (Forel, 1913k: 81, worker) from Sri Lanka, parallela (F Smith, 1859a: 147, worker) from Indonesia and pygmaeum (Emery, 1877b: 371, queen; Emery, 1901e: 62, male; Emery, 1915g: 17, worker) from Ethiopia; and material of unavailable name breve (Santschi, 1924b: 213, worker) from Zaïre, Luebo, by H. Schouteden; (see Bolton, 1995) .

F Smith's (1851) description is at . Emery's (1877b) description of pygmaeum is at . Arnold (1917: 323) gave an expanded transcription for a specimen from Durban, this is at . Santschi's (1910c) description of bantouana is at . Santschi's (1914d) description of exoleta is at . Emery's (1901e) description of the pygmaeum queen and male is at . and his (1915g) description of the worker is at . Santschi's (1924b) description of breve is at . Borgmeier's (1928) description of brevispinosum is at .

Bolton's modern descriptions are at (1977) (1979) and (1980: 319, illustrated side of head, alitrunk and pedicel profile) .

Widely distributed by commerce (Wheeler, 1922). Examples can be seen also on the Japanese Ant Color Image Database.

Bolton's (1980) list of material examined shows two distinct groups. One set was of specimens from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Principe Is.; whereas the others were from Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He commented briefly on the observable differences shown by West African specimens as having head sizes at the lower end of the width range, presumably for African specimens, giving them a relatively high CI. they also tended to display gasters which were distinctly darker than the head and alitrunk The full-face head view is from Bolton (1979) on Malagasy and New World Tetramorium.

A difference shown by a number of the African specimens I have seen is that the erect pilosity is somewhat longer and distinctly finer than on the type form specimens, e.g, (Sharaf) Egypt, (Antweb) Mauritius, USA, etc. and the Bolton (1979) drawing.

The African (Ethiopian Region, 1980) specimen measurements were - TL 2.0-2.7, HL 0.50-0.62, HW 0.42-0.56, CI 85-93, SL 0,34-0.44, SI 75-95, PW 0.30-0.42, AL 0.54-0.68
His (1977) Asia-Australasia specimen measurements were - TL 2.1-2.5, HL 0.54-60, HW 0.48-0.54, CI 88-93, SL 0,36-0.42, SI 74-80, PW 0.34-0.40, AL 0.58-0.68 (exactly the same ranges were given in Bolton (1979: 170)

Nigeria specimens (as Tetramorium species F, Taylor, 1980a: 51). WORKER. TL 2.02 mm, HL 0.51, HW 0.48, SL 0.40, PW 0.31
Head, alitrunk and pedicel finely punctate with the puncturations generally arranged longitudinally. Erect hairs stout and moderately abundant. Propodeal spines short, triangular and upturned. Petiole node short, with the anterior and posterior faces near vertical; dorsum flat in profile but sloping downwards to the posterior. Small acute subpetiolar spine. Colour yellow-brown, gaster dark and shiny.

In Nigeria, nests in dead wood on ground, and in dead wood and in crevices on living trees. Will tend aphids on cocoa flowers and cherelles near the ground, and will build tents. Bolton (1980) listed the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Idi Ayunre (himself; B. Taylor), Lagos (B. Malkin) and Ile Ife (J.T. Medler).

Found in Ghana (as Tetramorium sp. F), in open ground under Lantana scrub at the Mampong Cemetery site by Room (1971). Bolton (1980) did not list that finding, although he had others from Legon (D. Leston) and CRIG (D. Louis).

Collingwood & Bolton (1975) report it as a tramp species of African origin, which can be found in hot-houses in Britain, and Bolton (1980) listed findings from all over Africa, plus mentioning the wide global distribution.

Bernard (1952) reported it from Guinea, Mt. Nimba, Ravine I and the Nion crest at 1300 m; several workers; yellow and a little slimmer than the type.

The photomontage is of a specimen collected in Cameroun - south-western tropical coastal forest area between Edéa and Campo (McKey Wolbachia project) - Cameroon 95 from location Kribi, 15 April 2001, in herbaceous vegetation, about 20 cm tall, in garden of Catholic Mission; in sample mostly of Solenopsis geminata. Generally this seems to be a better match for the description given by Arnold (1917: 323) than that of Bolton (1980: 319). Other images can be seen in the folder at -

The photomontage of a specimen from Mauritius is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0102390. Collection Information: Specimen Code CASENT0102390; Locality; Mauritius: [Round I.]; Collection codes: ANTC4614; Date: 1975; Collected by: D.Bullock

The photomontage is of a queen from Gabon, collected by Yves Braet, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folders at - from Gabon - and .

From Ghana, collected by Sky Stephens - and .

From Congo, collected by Yves Braet & Eric Nzassi - and .

From Tanzania, collected by Vasily Grebennikov - .

From Egypt collected by Mostafa Sharaf - and .