Cryptopone Emery 1893

Branstetter, Michael G. & Longino, John T., 2022, UCE Phylogenomics of New World Cryptopone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Elucidates Genus Boundaries, Species Boundaries, and the Vicariant History of a, Insect Systematics and Diversity (AIFB) 6 (1), pp. 1-23 : 13-15

Cryptopone Emery 1893

Type species: Cryptopone testacea Emery, 1893 : cclxxv; by monotypy.

The phylogenetic results necessitate the revalidation of the genus Wadeura and consequent removal of the species W. guianensis revived combination, W. holmgreni new combination, and W. pauli new combination from Cryptopone . The shared characters of Cryptopone and Wadeura workers, as outlined by Schmidt and

Shattuck 2014, are “frontal lobes small and closely approximated, scapes flattened, eyes vestigial to absent, propodeum with a distinct dorsal face which widens posteriorly, metabasitarsus with simple setae but lacking spiniform or peg-like traction setae, and mesotibiae with stout traction setae (sometimes small and reduced to a few, but always present).” Schmidt and Shattuck observed that most Cryptopone have a fovea or pit at the base of the mandible, with the exception of the Wadeura -like species. With the separation of Wadeura , the presence of a mandibular pit is apparently now universal in Cryptopone .

In Cryptopone gilva and relatives, the anterior face of abdominal sternite III has a pair of gibbosities ventral to the helcium, so that the helcium is “high” on the segment ( Fig. 7A and B ). These gibbosities are present on C. ochracea and C. butteli , species that we have been able to examine directly. Other Cryptopone species with images on AntWeb, including the type species C. testacea , show similar structure when the anterior face of abdominal sternite III is visible. This character may now be universal in Cryptopone . In Wadeura , there are no gibbosities and abdominal sternite III shallowly curves to the ventral rim of the helcium, so that the helcium is “low” on the abdominal segment ( Fig. 7C and D ). Although males are not treated here, there are substantial differences between the males of Cryptopone and Wadeura (B. Boudinot, pers. com.).

Fig. 8. Petiolar nodes of workers in the Mesoamerican members of the C. gilva complex. All images are to same scale (scale bar = 0.1 mm). (A) C. gilvagrande (CASENT0614525), Guatemala. (B) C. gilvatumida (CASENT0641046), Puebla, 1400 m. (C) C. gilvatumida (CASENT0631951), Xalapa, Mexico, 1940 m. (D) C. guatemalensis (CASENT0641031), Puebla, 1400 m. E. C. guatemalensis (CASENT0640429), Sierra de LosTuxtlas, 1130 m. F. C. guatemalensis (CASENT0642925), Sierra de LosTuxtlas, 1580 m. (B) and (D) occurred together in the same Winkler sample, and sequencing placed them in different clades.

Fig. 9. Face views of workers in the C. guatemalensis + C. gilvatumida clade. All images are to same scale (scale bar = 0.5 mm). (A) C. guatemalensis (CASENT0641031), Puebla, 1400 m. (B) C. guatemalensis (CASENT0640429), Sierra de LosTuxtlas, 1130 m. (C) C. guatemalensis (CASENT0642925), Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, 1580 m. (D) C. gilvatumida (CASENT0641046), Puebla, 1400 m. (E) C. gilvatumida (CASENT0641053), Puebla, 1790 m. F. C. gilvatumida (CASENT0631951), Xalapa, Mexico, 1940 m. (A) and (D) occurred together in the same Winkler sample, and sequencing placed them in different clades.

There is a single subsaharan species, C. hartwigi Arnold from South Africa. Although it has Cryptopone characters and habitus, Borowiec et al. (2019) and our phylogenetic results show it is in a clade of African ants separate from the rest of the genus. Our results show that it is sister to the African genus Fisheropone , to which we transfer it, as F. hartwigi new combination. Finally, Cryptopone mirabilis ( Mackay & Mackay 2010) is shown to be a junior synonym of Centromyrmex brachycola .

With the removal of Wadeura , F. hartwigi , and the misplaced C. mirabilis , the genus Cryptopone is a more morphologically uniform set of species. This revised concept of Cryptopone has highest diversity in Asian and Indo-Malayan regions, with a few species extending into Palearctic and Nearctic regions. The Nearctic clade extends as far south as Costa Rica. Cryptopone is not present in South America.

We recognize four species of true Cryptopone in the Americas: C. gilva , C. gilvagrande sp. nov., C. gilvatumida sp. nov., and C. guatemalensis rev. stat.

Figures

Fig. 7. Shape of third abdominal sternite,Cryptopone vs.Wadeura. Cryptopone gilvagrande (CASENT064143),lateral view (A), oblique ventral view (B).Wadeura guianensis (CASENT0640149), lateral view (C), oblique ventral view (D). Scale bars are 0.2 mm.