Tapinoma opacum

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Dominican Republic, Greater Antilles, Haiti.

Nomenclature

 *  opacum. Tapinoma opacum Wheeler, W.M. & Mann, 1914: 43 (w.m.) HAITI.

Worker
Length 2-2.5 mm.

Head distinctly longer than broad, a little broader behind than in front, rounded behind, with feebly convex sides and rather large, flattened eyes, placed just in front of the median transverse diameter of the head. Mandibles with numerous minute teeth, the apical ones longer and acute. Clypeus moderately large and convex, with rounded, entire anterior border. Frontal area indistinct, triangular. Frontal groove obsolete. Antenna) rather long; scapes reaching fully twice their greatest diameter beyond the posterior margin of the head; second funicular joint broader than long, succeeding joints as long as broad, terminal joint longer. Thorax rather stout; pro- and mesonotum each somewhat broader than long, the meso-epinotal suture slightly but distinctly impressed in profile. Epinotum as long as broad, in profile sloping and rather fiat, without distinct base and declivity. Petiole 1.5 times as long as broad, broader behind than in front, with a distinct though low scale, which is much inclined forward) narrowed and somewhat pointed anteriorly when seen from above. Gaster and legs as usual, the first segment of the former overlapping the petiole with its base.

Mandibles shining, finely punctate; remainder of body, including the antennae and legs, opaque, very densely, finely and evenly punctate.

Hairs sparse, whitish, erect, present only on the clypeus, mandibles, prosterna and tip of gaster; pubescence whitish, very short and delicate, covering the whole body and giving it a faint bloom.

Black; legs and antennal funiculi piceous; tips of mandibles, tarsi and mouth-parts, including the palpi, yellow.

Male
Length 2.5 mm.

Resembling the male of T. sessile Say, except in its smaller size, sculpture and coloration. Head a little longer than broad; clypeus with straight, entire anterior border. Antennal scapes more slender than in the worker and reaching further beyond the posterior border of the head; funicular joints all distinctly longer than broad. Epinotum similar to that of the worker, but with more distinct base and declivity, the former fully twice as long as the latter. Petiole with a thick, low, erect, rounded node. Genitalia large, the external valves convex, rounded, as broad as long, internal valves much narrower, pointed and more claw-like than in T. sessile. Wings without a discoidal cell.

Sculpture like that of the worker, except the gaster, which is shining.

Erect hairs even less developed than in the worker, absent on the head and gaster.

Color as in the worker; wings distinctly grayish, with darker gray veins and stigma.

Type Locality Information
Described from several workers and two males taken at Furcy beneath the bark of a fallen pine.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Perez-Gelabert D. E. 2008. Arthropods of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti): A checklist and bibliography. Zootaxa 1831:1-530.
 * Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.
 * Wheeler W. M., and W. M. Mann. 1914. The ants of Haiti. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 33: 1-61.