Tetraponera difficilis (Emery, 1900)

Hamer, Matthew T., Lee, Jonathan Hon Chung, Tse, Cheung Yau Leo, Silva, Thiago S. R. & Guénard, Benoit, 2022, Remarkable diversity in a little red dot: a comprehensive checklist of known ant species in Singapore (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with notes on ecology and taxonomy, Asian Myrmecology (e 015006) 15, pp. 1-152 : 137

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.20362/am.015006
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B68783-31DD-FF2C-FD4B-7943FE3DFE57
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Tetraponera difficilis (Emery, 1900)
status

Treatment

Tetraponera difficilis (Emery, 1900) View in CoL

Material examined. Mandai Road , 1.41488, 103.79917, 6-8 Dec 2016, G.W. Yong et al. leg., ZRC _ ENT00048097 View Materials GoogleMaps ; Upper Thomson Nature Park , 1.38012, 103.82616, 4 Oct 2016, G.W. Yong et al. leg., ZRC _ ENT00048098 View Materials GoogleMaps ; Pulau Ubin , 7 Jan 2014, Sk. Yamane leg. ( SKYC) .

Material not physically examined. CASENT0907466, ANTC28118 ( MHNG) [syntype of Sima stipitum ]; queen and workers, FOCOL1176-1178 ( ZMHB) [types of Sima fulva ]; CASENT0220759, PSW09602 ( UCDC); males and workers, CASENT0796174-796183 ( PSWC).

Literature. Forel (1912) [as Sima stipitum ]; Viehmeyer (1916), Overbeck (1924) [both as Sima (Tetraponera) fulva ]; Ward (2001).

Localities. Bukit Timah Road; Changi Beach; Mandai Road; National University of Singapore; Peirce Reservoir; Pulau Ubin; Seletar Reservoir; Singapore Botanic Gardens; Upper Thomson Nature Park.

Habitat/Ecology. This species is associated mainly with primary and old/mature secondary forests, sometimes young secondary habitats, of varying levels of disturbance in Singapore. These include native-dominated and abandoned plantation secondary forests. The ants have been found around forest edges, in loose dead twigs of plants such as Mallotus sp. The species also occurs sporadically in urban parklands or gardens, and coastal beach forest. Colonies in Singapore have been observed to be polydomous, with aggressive, activelystinging workers.