Tetramorium squaminode

None of the modest number of collections include much useful biological information. Some specimens were collected from pitfall traps, and one notes the pitfall was placed in a burnt field.

Identification
Bolton (1980) - The best diagnostic character of T. squaminode is its very narrow, dorsally knife-edged petiole scale. In other members of the group the dorsum of the scale is blunted or narrowly rounded, not sharp and acute.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Kenya, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zimbabwe.

Nomenclature

 *  squaminode. Tetramorium squaminode Santschi, 1911c: 356, fig. (w.) TANZANIA. Santschi, 1914b: 102 (q.m.). See also: Bolton, 1980: 260.

Worker
Bolton (1980) - TL 3.3-3.9, HL 0.78-0.85, HW 0.73-0.81, CI 93-95, SL 0.54-0.62, SI 74-78, PW 0.52-0.58, AL 0.86-0.96 (5 measured).

Mandibles finely longitudinally striate. Anterior clypeal margin with a median impression, in most specimens the strongly descending anterior portion of the clypeus feebly concave medially. Frontal carinae long, strongly developed to a point behind the level of the posterior margins of the eyes but occipitally no stronger than the remaining cephalic sculpture. Antennal scrobes broad and shallow. Maximum diameter of eye 0.17-0.20, about 0.23-0.25 x HW. Metanotal groove usually not impressed in profile but rarely the dorsum feebly indented. Propodeal spines long and acute, often slightly downcurved along their length in larger individuals. Metapleural lobes short-triangular and acute. Petiole very strongly squamiform; in profile high and very narrow, in dorsal view much broader than long. Transverse dorsal crest of petiole scale thin and sharp, knife-edged, not rounded. In large workers the centre of the petiole dorsal crest sometimes slightly indented. Postpetiole in dorsal view broader than long, slightly broader than the petiole. In profile the postpetiole low and broadly rounded, not squamiform, the tergal portion broader than the sternal and the anteroventral angle of the sternal process sharp, right-angled or nearly so. Dorsum of head irregularly longitudinally rugulose, the components quite widely separated and the spaces between them smooth or nearly so, ground-sculpture being feeble. Cross-meshes sparse or absent on dorsum but occipitally with some anastomoses or a weak reticulum developed. Dorsal alitrunk finely longitudinally rugulose, with transverse components sparse or absent except on the extreme anterior portion of the pronotum. Postpetiole and gaster unsculptured, smooth and shining. Petiole mostly unsculptured and smooth but the posterior face just above the point of articulation with the postpetiole having a row of very short vertical costulae, which are more apparent in larger workers. All dorsal surfaces of head and body with numerous quite short, stout hairs. Scapes and tibiae only with fine decumbent to appressed short pubescence. Colour brown.

Type Material
Bolton (1980) - Holotype worker, TANZANIA: Kilimanjaro, 3800 m, 1904 (C. Alluaud) [examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
 * Weber N. A. 1943. The ants of the Imatong Mountains, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 93: 263-389.