Tetramorium atratulum is a rare workerless socially parasitic ant from the Palaearctic region, which has even been introduced together with its host in North America.

This extreme inquiline is represented only by female and pupoid type male individuals, whose morphology and anatomy indicate a highly specialized level of parasitism.

The body of males is depigmentated, the cuticle is thin, the petiole and postpetiole are widely connected, and degenerate mandibles, palps, and antennae are observed.

[2] The only report about T. chefketi as a host of T. atratulum was given by Schulz & Sanetra (2002) as an amendment of the identified material published by Heinze (1987) from Tavşanlı (Turkey, Kütahya district).

[2] This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Lapeva-Gjonova, A.; Kiran, K.; Aksoy, V. (2012).