[1] This species ranges throughout central Europe from the mountains of southern Italy to northern Germany.

[citation needed] A thermophilic species, T. erraticum is found principally on dry heathland, exposed to the sun.

Horace Donisthorpe commented: "When the sun is obscured these ants immediately disappear, and on cold and cloudy days very few specimens are to be found away from the nest.

Donisthorpe records having found a particularly large colony in Weybridge on July 29, 1913, in which "the deälated females and workers in this nest being the largest I have ever seen".

[citation needed] Nuptial flights take place in June, although they may be postponed during colder years to July.