Genus Crematogaster Lund

This large cosmopolitan genus is represented in California by both arboreal and groundnesting species. Nine species have been recorded from the state but taxonomic uncertainties undermine this statistic. C. opuntiae Buren is quite similar to, and possibly conspecific with, C. californica Wheeler; the differences between C. coarctata Mayr and C. mormonum Wheeler are slight and unreliable; and the record of C. larreae Buren from California may be a misidentification. The North American species of this genus are much in need of a taxonomic update.

Species identification: keys in Buren (1968b). Additional references: Buren (1959), Longino (2003), Mackay and Mackay (2002), Scheffrahn and Rust (1989), Snelling and George (1979), Wheeler and Krutzsch (1994).