This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.255 (talk | contribs) at 21:21, 24 October 2003. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 21:21, 24 October 2003 by 80.255 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Tapinoma erraticum (Latreille, 1798).
This species ranges throughout central europe from the mountains of south Italy to north Germany. It is present in coastal areas of Southern England and on the islands of Gotland and Öland in Sweden.
A very thermophillic species, T. erraticum is found pricipally on dry heathland, exposed to the sun. The workers are very agile, and are usually only seen when the sun is shining. Donisthorpe commented: "When the sun is obscured these ants immediately disappear, and on cold and cloudy days very few specimens are to be found away from the nest."
Colonies are usually small, although larger colonies occasionally occur. Horace Donisthorpe recordes having found a particularly large colony in Weybridge on July 29th, 1913 in which "the deälted females and workers in this nest being the largest I have ever seen".
Colonies of polygynous and have been recorded to contain up to 40 deälated females. Nests are shallow and small solaria often feature in nest structure to concentrate solar heat onto the ants' brood.
Nuptial flights take place in June, although they may be posponed during colder years to July.
Also see British ants, Rare ants of the British Isles and List_of_the_common_names_of_British_ant_species.
See list of ant genera (alphabetical) for an aphabetical compedium of wordwide ant genera.