Tetramorium simillimum

Identification
Weakly sculptured, pale red much smaller than Tetramorium guineense. Length: 1.6-2 mm (Collingwood 1979).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Comoros, Eritrea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia. Australasian Region: Australia, New Caledonia. Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Fiji, Guam, Hawaii, Indonesia, Kiribati, Krakatau Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), New Guinea, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna Islands. Malagasy Region: Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Réunion, Seychelles. Nearctic Region: Canada, United States. Neotropical Region: Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Greater Antilles, Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico. Oriental Region: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Palaearctic Region: China, Ethiopia, Israel, Japan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Europe
Collingwood (1979) - This cosmopolitan species occasionally occurs in heated glasshouses in Europe and has been recorded from Denmark and also on several occasions in England.

Puerto Rico
Wheeler (1908) - In Culebra a few colonies were found nesting under stones and logs on the beach, in Coamo Springs several colonies were seen under stones in the creek bottom near the baths.

Nomenclature

 *  simillimum. Myrmica simillima Smith, F. 1851: 118 (w.) GREAT BRITAIN. Meinert, 1861: 331 (gynandromorph); André, 1883a: 289 (q.m.); Imai, Baroni Urbani, et al. 1984: 8 (k.). Combination in Tetramorium: Mayr, 1861: 61. Senior synonym of pygmaeum: Forel, 1916: 421; of brevispinosa: Borgmeier, 1937b: 241; of insulare: Yarrow, 1967: 28; of denticulatum, opacior, parallela: Bolton, 1977: 131; of bantouana, exoleta and material of the unavailable name breve referred here: Bolton, 1980: 320. See also: Emery, 1909d: 696.
 * parallela. Myrmica parallela Smith, F. 1859a: 147 (w.) INDONESIA (Aru I.). Combination in Tetramorium: Donisthorpe, 1932c: 455. Junior synonym of simillimum: Bolton, 1977: 131.
 * pygmaeum. Tetramorium pygmaeum Emery, 1877b: 371 (q.) ETHIOPIA. Emery, 1901e: 62 (m.); Emery, 1915g: 17 (w.). Junior synonym of simillimum: Forel, 1916: 421.
 * denticulatum. Tetramorium simillimum r. denticulatum Forel, 1902c: 235 (w.) INDIA. Junior synonym of simillimum: Bolton, 1977: 131.
 * bantouana. Tetramorium pusillum var. bantouana Santschi, 1910c: 382, fig. 10 (w.q.m.) CONGO. Junior synonym of simillimum: Bolton, 1980: 320.
 * opacior. Tetramorium simillimum var. opacior Forel, 1913k: 81 (w.) SRI LANKA. Junior synonym of simillimum: Bolton, 1977: 131.
 * exoleta. Tetramorium pusillum var. exoleta Santschi, 1914d: 366 (w.) NIGERIA. Junior synonym of simillimum: Bolton, 1980: 320.
 * brevispinosa. Wasmannia auropunctata subsp. brevispinosa Borgmeier, 1928a: 36, figs. 4, 5 (w.) BRAZIL. [Unresolved junior secondary homonym of brevispinosus Stitz, above.] Junior synonym of simillimum: Borgmeier, 1937b: 241.
 * insulare. Tetramorium simillimum var. insulare Santschi, 1928c: 69 (w.) FIJI IS. [Unresolved junior secondary homonym of insularis Menozzi, above.] Junior synonym of simillimum: Yarrow, 1967: 28; Bolton, 1977: 131.

Type Material


Myrmica parallela

Holotype worker in. Specimen without locality label, but with a label “simillima” in Smith’s writing. Type-locality “Aru” according to original description.

Worker
(length ¾ - 1 line). Head and thorax pale ferruginous, the legs and antennae more pallid, the coxae a little coloured, the eyes black; the abdomen is rufo-fuscous, pale towards the apex; the head is evenly longitudinally striate; the thorax above is without the usual transverse suture, but is a little compressed at the sides about the middle, and gradually slightly narrowed from the prothorax towards the nodes of the peduncle; the metathorax is truncate at the apex, and the spines are short, broad, and acute; the abdomen is furnished with a few scattered erect hairs.

Additional References

 * Collingwood, C. A. 1979. The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark. Fauna Entomol. Scand. 8:1-174.


 * Wheeler, W. M. 1908a. The ants of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 24: 117-158.