Tetramorium simillimum

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

Distribution
This taxon was described from United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is also found in New Caledonia, Philippines, Norfolk Island, Ecuador, Brazil, New Guinea, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Canada, United States, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Israel, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, India, Comoros, Seychelles, Réunion, Mayotte, Mauritius, Madagascar, Japan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Guam, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Barbados, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Micronesia (Federated States of), Northern Mariana Islands, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna Islands, Borneo, Australia.

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.

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.