caespitum-group |
Tetramorium brevicorne (Bondroit)
Type location Corsica
(Tetramorium caespitum var debilis (part.), Emery,
1909d: 701; Tetramorium caespitum ssp caespitum var brevicorne
Emery, 1916b: 194 - name only, brief details in key on p 196; Tetramorium
caespitum var brevicorne, Bondroit, 1918: 108, worker &
queen, Emery, 1925c: 185, illustrated, male & queen - no
significant text; raised to species Baroni Urbani, 1964b: 53).
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Emery's
(1909d) description of debilis is at - more heavily sculptured than debilis
- now Tetramorium
taueret. Emery (1916b: 196) separation - was sculpturation
almost as the type - T. caespitum ssp caespitum - the
scape not reaching the occipital margin by about its own diameter up to
twice its own diameter; colour dark; TL 2.2-2.6 mm. Bondroit's (1918)
note is at . Sanetra, Güsten &
Schulz (1999) examined the original specimens and gave a modern
description; this is at .
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Sanetra et al. found that the scape length is not
a reliable distinction for separating workers from caespitum
and the sculpturation of the petiole nodes was a better characteristic.
On brevicorne the postpetiole has more or less evenly
distibuted reticulate microsculpture; on caespitum< this is
restricted to, at the most, the more basal part of the node; alos the
occiput on brevicorne often has rugosity developed into a
conspicuous arched pattern.
Egypt records - Mohamed et al (2001,
illustrated); this may be the same as the Sinai specimens collected by
M James and diagnosed by BT as Tetramorium
schmidti.
Sharaf list - Material examined: Wadi El-Talaa, St.Catherine (South
Sinai), 15.xi.1998 (2); Wadi El-Talaa, St.Catherine (South Sinai),
19.ii.1998 (2); Wadi El-Arbaein, St.Catherine (South Sinai), 3.iv.1998
(8) (SHC); Sahab (South Sinai), 14.xi.1998 (1) Leg.M.R.Sharaf (ASUC).
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