Anergates atratulus is a species of ant lacking in the worker caste (i.e. has no really colony structure, only sexual females and males are produced) and is an obligate parasite of Tetramorium caespitum.
Anergates atratulus exists in very localised populations in southernly parts of the UK and was first described by H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe and W. C. Crawley in July 1912 in the New Forest, UK. It is the only extant species of its genus, tetramorine.
Since, unlike many other obligate social parasites, Anergates is never known to coexist with the host colony's fertile queen, every Anergates-Tetramorium colony is doomed to survive only the lifespan of the longest surviving Tetramorium workers. Thus, the parasitic queen has very limited scope for producing alates to secure the next generation, as this time span is often 3 years or fewer. As a result, even within its well-established range, Anergates is very scarce, with only a tiny proportion of Tetramorium colonies playing host to this parasite.
A. atratulus is thought to have evolved as an aberrant form of the genus Tetramorium.
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