Tapinoma erraticum

This is a small black ant, agile and aggressive on disturbance. Colonies usually contain several hundred workers and many queens. Nests are constructed under stones or in bare ground in dry sunny places and loose earth solaria for brood incubation are often constructed during the early summer. This species is partly aphidicolous and partly carnivorous. Alatae are developed in June with flights occurring during July (Collingwood 1979).

Identification
Dark brown to black: head wedge shaped widening posteriorly; clypeus with median notch as wide as or wider than deep. Dorsum of alitrunk and appendages without standing hairs. Body covered with adpressed white pubescence and very finely punctured. Antennae 12 segmented, palp formula 6,4. Length: 2.6-4.2 mm. (Collingwood 1979)

Distribution
Throughout Central Europe from Spain to the Caucasus and from the mountains of South Italy to North Germany (Collingwood 1979).

This taxon was described from France. It is also found in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Nomenclature

 *  erraticum. Formica erratica Latreille, 1798: 44 (w.q.m.) FRANCE. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1951: 197 (l.). Combination in Tapinoma: Smith, F. 1855a: 111. Senior synonym of collina: Schenck, 1852: 67; of glabrella: Smith, F. 1855a: 111; Mayr, 1855: 373; Radchenko, 2007: 38; of caerulescens: Mayr, 1865: 62; of breve, tauridis and transcaucasica: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 169; of bononiensis: Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 192. Current subspecies: nominal plus atomum, platyops. See also: Emery, 1925d: 53; Kutter, 1977c: 181; Seifert, 1984a: 151; Shattuck, 1994: 143; Seifert, 2012a: 144.
 * caerulescens. Formica caerulescens Losana, 1834: 314, fig. 3 (w.) ITALY. Junior synonym of erraticum: Mayr, 1865: 62.
 * glabrella. Formica glabrella Nylander, 1849: 38 (footnote) (w.) RUSSIA. Junior synonym of erraticum: Smith, F. 1855a: 111; Mayr, 1855: 373; Radchenko, 2007: 38.
 * collina. Tapinoma collina Foerster, 1850a: 43 (w.q.) GERMANY. Junior synonym of erraticum: Schenck, 1852: 67.
 * bononiensis. Tapinoma erraticum var. bononiensis Emery, 1925d: 55 (w.q.) ITALY. Junior synonym of erraticum: Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 192.
 * breve. Tapinoma breve Emery, 1925d: 60, fig. 12 (w.) KAZAKHSTAN. Subspecies of erraticum: Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927d: 34. Junior synonym of erraticum: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 169.
 * tauridis. Tapinoma tauridis Emery, 1925d: 59, fig. 11 (w.q.m.) UKRAINE. Junior synonym of erraticum: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 169. See also: Karavaiev, 1927d: 336.
 * transcaucasica. Tapinoma tauridis subsp. transcaucasica Karavaiev, 1927d: 337 (w.m.) KAZAKHSTAN. [First available use of Tapinoma simrothi subsp. karavaievi var. transcaucasica Karavaiev, 1926e: 187; unavailable name.] Junior synonym of erraticum: Dlussky, Soyunov, & Zabelin, 1990: 169.

Additional References

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


 * Seifert, B. 2012a. Clarifying naming and identification of the outdoor species of the ant genus Tapinoma Förster, 1850 in Europe north of the Mediterranean region with description of a new species. Myrmecological News 16: 139-147.