Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger)

Type location Cuba (Tetramorium auropunctatum, Roger, 1863a: 182, all forms; in Wasmannia, Forel, 1893g: 383); junior synonyms likewise neotropical except for atomum (Xiphomyrmex atomum, Santschi, 1914d: 370, worker; synonymy by Wheeler, 1922: 912) from Gabon (Libreville, by F. Silvestri, see below); (see Bolton, 1995) .

Roger's (1863a) description is at . Forel's (1893g) description of the queen and male is at . Santschi's (1914d) description of Xiphomyrmex atomum is at and seems very accurate.

WORKER - minute, TL less than 2.0 mm. Antennae 11-segmented, with a 3-segmented club. Antennal scrobes present, bounded below by a weak longitudinal carina running above the eye. Anterodorsal angles of the pronotum acute, pronotum strongly marginate anteriorly. Promesonotal suture absent, metanotal grove weakly impressed. Propodeum bispinose, metapleural lobes present. The image shown below (right) is from the AMNH collection at Antbase.org

Entwistle (1972) described it as insignificant and yellow-brown, worker only 1.4 mm long. Mainly nesting in the ground either between dead leaves or in rotten wood, or especially in the dry season, in soil at the base of trees. Occasionally nesting in dead wood on trees.

This is included because Bolton (1973a) noted that the species had been introduced into the cocoa growing areas of Cameroun. It is a pantropical tramp species, and a specimen from the USA is pictured by Hölldobler & Wilson (1990, page 125, shown right). Entwistle (1972) related how it had been introduced to Africa prior to 1921, when it was recorded by Wheeler (1922) from Libreville (found by F. Silvestri, "evidently introduced from South America") in Gabon. By the time Entwistle wrote, it had spread extensively into the region of Kribi, some 112 km south of Douala, in Cameroun. There it had become a useful component of biological control against mirids (de Miré, 1969).

The photograph left is of Wasmannia auropunctata from Guarambaré, Dept. Central, Paraguay and is reduced from the superb Myrmecos.net original taken by Alex Wild (click to see original).