Tetramorium walshi

Tetramorium walshi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Tetramorium
Species group:	walshi
Species:	T. walshi
Binomial name
Tetramorium walshi (Forel, 1890) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Triglyphothrix musculus Forel, 1902 Triglyphothrix walshi spuria Forel, 1912

Chen (2024) reports that in Taiwan this species was found in both Kinmen Islands and Penghu Islands rather in the main island of Taiwan. Minor variation on the body color was found between individuals collected from different islands; specifically, individuals from Penghu tend to be darker. However, additional morphological differences was not observed. In Penghu, T. walshi was found to be sympatric with Tetramorium lanuginosum and Tetramorium smithi in expansive open lawns.

Identification

Chan (2024) - Tetramorium walshi can be distinguished from other Oriental species by the combination of the following characters (Bolton, 1976):

• head, body, and appendages with uniformly dense trifid or quadrifid hairs
• node of petiole in dorsal view distinctly broader than long and strongly compressed anteroposteriorly

In Taiwan, T. walshi is most similar to Tetramorium parvispinum and Tetramorium lanuginosum in having branched hairs on the body but can still be differentiated by the aforementioned characters.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Tetramorium of India

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 32.628611° to 7.85°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Philippines, Singapore.
Oriental Region: Bangladesh, India (type locality), Sri Lanka, Thailand.
Palaearctic Region: China.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Triglyphothrix musculus. Worker. Specimen code casent0904795. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• walshi. Triglyphothrix walshi Forel, 1890b: cvii (w.q.) INDIA. Imai, Baroni Urbani, et al. 1984: 8 (k.). Combination in Tetramorium: Bolton, 1985: 247. Senior synonym of musculus, spuria: Bolton, 1976: 358.
• musculus. Triglyphothrix musculus Forel, 1902c: 239 (w.) INDIA. Junior synonym of walshi: Bolton, 1976: 358.
• spuria. Triglyphothrix walshi var. spuria Forel, 1912n: 58 (w.) SINGAPORE. Junior synonym of walshi: Bolton, 1976: 358.

Description

Karyotype

• See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

 Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• 2n = 14, karyotype = 14M (India) (Imai et al., 1984) (as Triglyphothrix walshi).

References

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• Bolton, B. 1985. The ant genus Triglyphothrix Forel a synonym of Tetramorium Mayr. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 19: 243-248 (page 247, Combination in Tetramorium)
• Chan, K.-W. 2024. New records of the ant species Tetramorium walshi (Forel, 1890) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Taiwan, with additional reports of Tetramorium species from Penghu Islands. Taiwanese Society of Insect Natural History 9(3): 22–28 (doi:10.5281/ZENODO.13839248).
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