Tetraponera allaborans -group Worker diagnosis (modified from Ward 2006). Small to medium-sized species (HW 0.41–1.15); masticatory margin of mandible usually with four (rarely five) teeth, the basal margin edentate and shorter than masticatory margin; in a subset of species (the Asian T. allaborans complex and the southern African T. clypeata complex) masticatory margin with three teeth, basal margin with 1–2 small teeth and longer than masticatory margin; labrum without prominent teeth or tubercles or with a median tubercle near the proximal margin, widely flanked by a lateral pair; anteromedial margin of clypeus variable (crenulate, toothed or entire); frontal carinal distance variable (FCI 0.08– 0.25); scape length about two thirds of head width or less (SI 0.41–0.71); compound eyes directed anteriorly; head capsule usually lacking ocelli, rarely with a weak lateral pair; pronotum with weak to moderate lateral margination; mesonotum about as long as wide, ovoid or subrectangular in dorsal view; mesopropodeal impression usually containing a raised transverse metanotal plate, but this reduced or lost in some species; posteroventral margin of petiole well separated from the helcium venter; metabasitarsal sulcus present; mesosternum densely pubescent. Comments. The T. allaborans -group ranges widely in the Afrotropical region (including Madagascar), southeast Asia, and Australasia. Among the six species groups of Tetraponera currently recognized (Ward 2006), it is the most species-rich, both globally and regionally.

Published as part of Ward, Philip S., 2022, The ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Afrotropical region: taxonomic review and key to species, pp. 1-70 in Zootaxa 5102 (1) on page 26, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5102.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6245602