Tapinoma karavaievi

Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) found this species in Iran on the ground in a moderate to low rainfall area.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Palaearctic Region: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan.

Nomenclature

 *  karavaievi. Tapinoma simrothi subsp. karavaievi Emery, 1925d: 52, fig. 5 (w.q.m.) KAZAKHSTAN. Raised to species: Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 547. Senior synonym of azerbeidzhanica: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 170.
 * azerbeidzhanica. Tapinoma simrothi subsp. azerbeidzhanica Karavaiev, 1932: 248, fig. 1 (w.m.) AZERBAIJAN. Junior synonym of karavaievi: Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 170.

Taxonomic Notes
Khalili-Moghadam et al. (2019) - The status of Tapinoma karavaievi requires revision. The male genitalia are extremely similar to those of Tapinoma simrothi. Perhaps T. karavaievi is the only eastern morphotype of the widespread T. simrothi. Both taxa have been recorded in Iran but only T. karavaievi probably occurs in this area.

Pashaei Rad et al. (2018) - Type location imprecise. Emery (1925) gave the type location as “Turkestan”, he also reported a specimen from Astrabad (northern Iran). The Emery specimens, e.g. as shown at CASENT0904019, are not from the original report by Mayr (1877, as “Tapinoma nigerrimum”) of collections in Turkestan, in an area most probably in (now) Uzbekistan, but from Imam-Baba, Turkmenistan.