Geographic Distribution of Tapinoma litorale (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Tapinoma litorale Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is a small, inconspicuous New World ant that nests in plant cavities, particularly in epiphytes and hollow grass stems and twigs. Recently, T. litorale was included on a list of exotic ant species established in North America, introduced through human commerce. We compiled and mapped >240 site records for T. litorale, documenting the earliest known records for 19 geographic areas, including many with no previously published records: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, San Andrés Island, Trinidad, the Turks & Caicos Islands, and Venezuela. Records for T. litorale ranged from 8.5°N to 29.1°N, spread broadly around the circum-Caribbean region: peninsular Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. The earliest records of T. litorale come from Florida, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, and there is no notable distributional gap between Florida and the West Indies. This pattern does not support the proposition that T. litorale populations in North America are exotic. Tapinoma litorale workers resemble ghost ants, Tapinoma melanocephalum (F.), an Old World tramp species that has been spread around the world through human commerce. Tapinoma melanocephalum also nests in plant cavities and potentially may compete with T. litorale in areas where it invades.