Tetramorium zapyrum

Tetramorium zapyrum inhabits forested areas or areas which were once forested but are now cleared for agriculture. Nests are constructed in twigs or pieces of rotten wood on the ground.

Identification
Bolton (1980) - This species is the commonest member of the T. angulinode group in West Africa but has not been previously described due to confusion with Tetramorium angulinode and other species. Tetramorium zapyrum is closely related to T. angulinode and Tetramorium calinum, but in the first of these the petiole has an open reticulum with shining spaces, not the coarsely sculptured mass seen in T. zapyrum, and in T. calinum the dorsal alitrunk is blanketed by a very coarse reticulate-puncturation.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria.

Nomenclature

 *  zapyrum. Tetramorium zapyrum Bolton, 1980: 242 (w.) GHANA.

Worker
Holotype. TL 2-9, HL 0-68, HW 0-66, CI 97, SL 0-46, SI 68, PW 0-50, AL 0:76. Paratypes (20 measured): TL 2-7-3-2, HL 0-64-0-74, HW 0-62-0:72, CI 94-98, SL 0-40-0-48, SI 64-75, PW 0:50-0:58, AL 0-72-0-82.

Mandibles smooth with scattered small pits. Anterior clypeal margin with a small median impression. Antennal scrobes broad and conspicuous, strongly delimited above by the acute frontal carinae and below by a longitudinal carinate ruga running immediately above the eye. Scrobe with a median longitudinal carina anteriorly dividing it into upper and lower compartments, this carina running back to the level of the posterior margin of the eye. Pronotal corners strongly angulate in dorsal view. Propodeal spines elongate, strong, acute; metapleural lobes triangular. Petiole blocky in profile, the node as long as or somewhat longer than high, in dorsal view about as long as it is broad posteriorly. Postpetiole in dorsal view much broader than long. Head finely and quite densely longitudinally rugulose, developing a weak reticulum occipitally; spaces between the rugulae with superficial but fairly conspicuous punctulation. Dorsal alitrunk irregularly longitudinally rugose with very feeble punctulate interspaces which are glossy. Dorsal surfaces of petiole and postpetiole completely covered by a dense, coarse, disorganized rugoreticulum, the meshes of which are small and the spaces of which are filled with quite coarse and conspicuous punctures so that both segments appear very rough and matt. Petiole without a fine raised ridge running across the junction of the anterior and dorsal surfaces, the sides of the petiole coarsely sculptured throughout. Gaster unsculptured and shining. All dorsal surfaces of head and body with numerous short, fine hairs, those on the apical two-thirds of the first gastral tergite directed towards the midline. Colour dark brown, the gaster blackish brown.

Paratypes: As holotype.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Ghana: Legon, 24.ix.1970, ant ecology sample L39 (D. Leston). Paratypes. Ghana: 6 workers with same data as holotype; 3 workers, Legon A.D., 15.vii.1970 (D. Leston). Ivory Coast: 30 workers, Palmeraie de Lame, no. 13, 21.i.1976 (7. Diomande). 

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Belshaw R., and B. Bolton. 1994. A survey of the leaf litter ant fauna in Ghana, West Africa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 3: 5-16.
 * Bolton B. 1980. The ant tribe Tetramoriini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The genus Tetramorium Mayr in the Ethiopian zoogeographical region. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 40: 193-384.
 * Hita Garcia, F., G. Fischer, M.K. Peters, R.R. Snelling and H.W. Wagele. 2009. A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Kakamega Forest (Kenya). Journal of East African Natural HIstory 98(2): 147-165.
 * IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
 * Kouakou L. M. M., W. Dekoninck, M. Kone, T. Delsinne, K. Yeo, K. Ouattara, and S. Konate. 2018. Diversity and distribution of introduced and potentially invasive ant species from the three main ecoregions of Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa). Belgian Journal of Zoology 148 (1): 83–103.
 * Yeo K., L. M. M. Kouakou, W. Dekoninck, K. Ouattara, and S. Konate. 2016. Detecting intruders: assessment of the anthropophilic ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the city of Abidjan and along access roads in Banco National Park (Côte d’Ivoire). Journal of Entomology and Zoological Studies 4(4): 351-359.