Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Tapinoma melanocephalum - Ghost Ant

Ghost ant invasion ... yikes! - Tapinoma melanocephalum Is this Tapinoma? - Tapinoma melanocephalum Is this Tapinoma? - Tapinoma melanocephalum Ghost Ants - Tapinoma melanocephalum - female Tiny ant - Tapinoma melanocephalum Tiny ant - Tapinoma melanocephalum Tapinoma melanocephalum Possibly Tapinoma melanocephalum - Tapinoma melanocephalum - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Formicoidea (Ants)
Family Formicidae (Ants)
Subfamily Dolichoderinae (Odorous Ants)
Tribe Tapinomini
Genus Tapinoma
Species melanocephalum (Ghost Ant)
Range
native to the Old World tropics(1), adventive elsewhere; in our area, established in FL (expanding) and reached TX in mid-1990s (prob. through Galveston on a shipment of plants from FL); infestations reported in many areas as far north as MB, but in cooler areas the ant can only survive indoors (greenhouses, etc.)
Internet References
Fact sheet by J.C. Nickerson, C.L. Bloomcamp, & R.M. Pereira
Works Cited
1.Exotic ants in Florida
Deyrup M., Davis L., Cover S. 2000. Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. 126: 293-326.