Tetramorium caespitum
Pavement ant
DifficultyBeginner · 4/7
Kept by BrumaSpecies comparison
Tetramorium caespitum vs Tetramorium immigrans
Side by side: difficulty, size, growth, climate, hibernation and nuptial flights, from the data and sources of each species sheet.
Head to head
| Tetramorium caespitum | Fact | Tetramorium immigrans |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping | ||
| Difficulty | ||
4/7 Beginner | Difficulty | Easier3/7 Beginner |
| Escape risk | ||
High | Escape risk | High |
| Diet | ||
SugarInsects | Diet | InsectsSugarSeeds |
| Best nests | ||
Acrylic nest · Test tube setup · Naturalistic setup | Best nests | Test tube setup · Acrylic nest · Ytong nest |
| Colony | ||
| Growth | ||
Fast | Growth | Fast |
| Colony size | ||
No data yet | Colony size | Reaches 10,000 workers |
| Workers | ||
2–4 mm All the same size | Workers | 2.5–4 mm All the same size |
| Queen | ||
6–8 mm | Queen | 7–8 mm |
| Colony founding | ||
Fully claustral One queen | Colony founding | Fully claustral One queen |
| Defense | ||
Bites · Stings | Defense | Bites · Stings |
| Climate | ||
| Nest temperature | ||
21–27 °C | Nest temperature | 22–28 °C |
| Nest humidity | ||
50–60 % | Nest humidity | 40–60 % |
| Hibernation | ||
5–8 °C Oct – Mar | Hibernation | 5–10 °C Nov – Feb |
| Nuptial flights | ||
Jun – Aug | Nuptial flights | May – Jul Calm weather · Humid air |
| Native range | ||
Europe | Native range | Europe, Middle East |
Size to scale
Tetramorium caespitum
Workers · 2–4 mmQueen · 6–8 mmTetramorium immigrans
Workers · 2.5–4 mmQueen · 7–8 mm
Their year side by side
Tetramorium caespitum : Hibernation: Oct – Mar, Nuptial flights: Jun – Aug
Tetramorium immigrans : Hibernation: Nov – Feb, Nuptial flights: May – Jul
Months for temperate Europe and the Mediterranean. The weather decides the exact days, so flights can come earlier or later where you live.
How to tell them apart
Tetramorium caespitum
Tiny dark brown to blackish workers with fine ridges on the head and thorax, a smooth shiny gaster and a waist made of two small segments. A pair of short spines sticks out at the back of the thorax.
- Watch out These ants are masters at finding gaps, so pick an acrylic or test tube-based nest whose layers fit tightly together, and check every join of a naturalistic enclosure.
- Tip Give this fast grower plenty of protein: once the first workers are out, regular insects feed the queen and the brood.
Tetramorium immigrans
Small dark brown to blackish workers with fine parallel ridges on the head and thorax, two short spines at the back of the thorax and a two-segment waist, on average a little larger and more densely sculptured than Tetramorium caespitum. Telling it from T. caespitum or T. impurum takes measurements at 100x magnification or a look at the male genitalia, while the Japanese pavement ant T. tsushimae is slightly smaller with longer spines.
- Watch out The workers are tiny and test every gap. One keeper saw Tetramorium eat an olive oil barrier, and another had workers slip through a small gap into a neighboring colony's setup, where they were killed at once. Use a tight lid, glue fine steel mesh over the vents and add a second barrier such as Fluon.
- Watch out Several queens kept together can found a nest as a group, but it does not last. In one keeper's five multi-queen groups the workers killed queens until one was left, and two groups ended with no queen at all, so keep one queen per tube.
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