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Cryptopone guatemalensis
| Cryptopone guatemalensis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Ponerinae |
| Tribe: | Ponerini |
| Genus: | Cryptopone |
| Species complex: | gilva |
| Species: | C. guatemalensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Cryptopone guatemalensis (Forel, 1899) | |
| Synonyms | |
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This species occurs in cloud forest habitats from 940-1800 m elevation. Most specimens are from Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter and rotten wood. Workers and dealate queens occur in litter samples. Males are frequent in Malaise trap samples (B. Boudinot, personal communication). Nests are often encountered in and under loose bark of rotting wood on the forest floor, and under epiphyte mats near the ground in old treefalls. Colonies are diffusely spread in multiple chambers. Lone founding queens are commonly encountered. There is no evidence of polygyny (in contrast to Cryptopone gilva). (Branstetter & Longino, 2022)
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Identification
It is challenging to separate C. guatemalensis from Cryptopone gilvatumida, sister taxa in the molecular phylogeny. The existence of two species was first suggested when two size classes of workers were observed in a single Winkler sample from the state of Puebla, Mexico. The size difference was small, and otherwise the workers were all very similar. Yet sequencing of a smaller specimen allied it with a widespread C. guatemalensis clade, while a larger specimen was in a separate clade with specimens from the mountains of Veracruz and Oaxaca. A series of Winkler samples were taken in roadside forest patches from Cuetzalan to Zacapoaxtla, a distance of 17 km, and ranging from 1270 to 1790 m. Cryptopone were found at four of the sites and could be separated into two forms: one with HW < 0.61 and the petiolar node slightly more truncate dorsally (Fig. 8D), and the other with HW > 0.63 and the petiolar node more evenly rounded (Fig. 8B). These forms were identified as C. guatemalensis and C. gilvatumida, respectively. Single specimens of C. guatemalensis were found at each of two small roadside patches at 1270 and 1400 m. A third site, also at 1400 m but a larger mature forest patch in a shaded ravine, contained both species together. The fourth site, a roadside patch at 1790 m, contained C. gilvatumida. The other two sequenced specimens that formed a clade with C. gilvatumida from Puebla were from montane sites near Xalapa, Veracruz, and the Sierra de Mazateca in Oaxaca. These latter specimens were also very large and had an evenly rounded petiolar node (e.g., Fig. 8C).
However, size alone does not always separate C. guatemalensis and C. gilvatumida. Ants tend to be larger and darker at higher elevations (Bishop et al. 2016), and both C. guatemalensis and C. gilvatumida appear to exhibit this pattern as intraspecific variation (Fig. 9). Among the Puebla collections of C. gilvatumida, specimens from the 1790 m site were larger and darker than the specimens from the 1400 m site (HW 0.65-0.75 vs. 0.57-0.61; Fig. 9 D, E). In montane sites near Xalapa, Veracruz, a site at 1480 m yielded a single worker with the rounded node of C. gilvatumida and HW 0.63. A nearby site at 2000 m, and the source of one of the sequenced specimens of C. gilvatumida, had HW 0.78-0.81 (Fig. 9F). Specimens from Sierra Mazateca, also the source of a sequenced specimen of C. gilvatumida, were from above 1700 m and had HW 0.69-0.82. The Sierra de Los Tuxtlas appears to have only C. guatemalensis. Specimens from 1100 to 1240 m cloud forest, one of which was sequenced, had HW 0.58-0.64 (Figs. 8E and 9B). A specimen from the peak of Volcán San Martín, at 1580 m, had HW 0.72 (Figs. 8F and 9C). This large specimen was sequenced and clustered closely with the specimen from downslope. South of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, C. guatemalensis has HW 0.60-0.70, on average larger than specimens from Oaxaca northward.
Forel (1899) described C. guatemalensis based on material from Guatemala, Aceituna (Champion) and Nicaragua, Chontales (Janson). Mackay and Mackay (2010) designated a specimen at MHNG as lectotype. We examined this specimen and conclude it was not a syntype, and thus it cannot be a lectotype. The label indicates the specimen is from Florida in the United States, and the specimen has the measurements of true C. gilva. This is presumably a specimen that was identified as C. guatemalensis by Forel after the publication of the name. This specimen has been given the specimen identifier CASENT0646799, and the images are on AntWeb. The lectotype label has been removed to avoid confusion.
Among the 43 COI barcodes for this species, the maximum intraspecific pairwise distance was 8%, and the smallest interspecific distance was 5%.
Branstetter & Longino (2022),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 Los Tuxtlas, 1130 m. F. C. guatemalensis (CASENT0642925), Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, 1580 m. (B) and (D) occurred together in the same Winkler sample, and sequencing placed them in different clades.
Branstetter & Longino (2022), 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 Los Tuxtlas, 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.
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Keys including this Species
Distribution
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua.
Distribution based on AntMaps
Distribution based on AntWeb specimens
Check data from AntWeb
Countries Occupied
| Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species. |
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Biology
Castes
Phylogeny
| C. gilva complex |
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Based on Branstetter & Longino (2022).
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- guatemalensis. Ponera ochracea r. guatemalensis Forel, 1899c: 16 (w.) GUATEMALA, NICARAGUA.
- Type-material: neotype worker (by designation of Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17).
- [Note: Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17, say that the lectotype worker earlier designated by Mackay & Mackay, 2010: 352, came from Florida, not from either of the original syntype series (Guatemala and Nicaragua), which they say are entirely lost.]
- Type-locality: neotype Guatemala: Suchitepéquez, 4 km. S Vol. Atitlán, 14.54800, -91.19369±200 m., 1570 m., 14.vi.2009, #6709, cloud forest, rotten wood (J. Longino).
- [Note (i): original syntype data: workers (number not stated) Guatemala: Aceituno (Champion), and Nicaragua: Chontales (Janson), material lost; (ii) Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17, also nominate 2w, 3q, 3m as ‘paraneotypes’ (a category not recognised by ICZN) CASC, MCZC, USNM.]
- Type-depository: MHNG (neotype).
- Combination in Pachycondyla (Pseudoponera): Emery, 1901a: 46;
- combination in Euponera (Trachymesopus): Emery, 1911d: 86;
- combination in Trachymesopus: Kempf, 1960f: 424;
- combination in Cryptopone: Brown, 1963: 6.
- Subspecies of ochracea: Emery, 1911d: 86.
- Junior synonym of gilva: Mackay & Mackay, 2010: 352.
- Status as species: Brown, 1963: 6; Kempf, 1972a: 90; Bolton, 1995b: 166; Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17.
- Senior synonym of obsoleta: Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17.
- Distribution: Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua.
- obsoleta. Euponera (Trachymesopus) obsoleta Menozzi, 1931d: 196, fig. 5 (w.) COSTA RICA.
- Type-material: lectotype worker (by designation of Mackay & Mackay, 2010: 352).
- [Notes (i): original description cites “several” syntype workers; (ii) Baroni Urbani, 1973b: 135, cites 1w syntype NHMB.]
- Type-locality: Costa Rica: Vara Blanca, 2000 m., between Barba Volcano and Poas (H. Schmidt).
- Type-depositories: NHMB (lectotype); IEUB, DEIM (paralectotypes).
- Combination in Trachymesopus: Kempf, 1960f: 424;
- combination in Pachycondyla: Brown, in Bolton, 1995b: 308;
- combination in Cryptopone: Longino, 2006b: 135.
- Status as species: Kempf, 1972a: 251.
- Junior synonym of gilva: Longino, 2006b: 135; Mackay & Mackay, 2010: 352.
- Junior synonym of guatemalensis: Branstetter & Longino, 2022: 17.
Type Material
Branstetter & Longino (2022) - Ponera ochracea r. guatemalensis Forel, 1899
- Neotype worker (here designated): Guatemala, Suchitepéquez: 4km S Vol. Atitlán, 14.54800 −91.19369 ± 200 m, 1570 m, cloud forest, ex rotten wood, 14 Jun 2009 (J. Longino #6709) [MHNG, unique specimen identifier CASENT0646802].
- Additional specimens from same series ("Paraneotypes"): same data as holotype [1 worker, CAS, CASENT0646803; 1 alate queen, CAS, CASENT0646806; 1 male, CAS, CASENT0646809; 1 worker, MCZC, CASENT0646804; 1 alate queen, MCZC, CASENT0646807; 1 male, MCZC, CASENT0646810; 1 alate queen, USNM, CASENT0646805; 1 male, USNM, CASENT0646808].
Branstetter & Longino (2022) - Euponera (Trachymesopus) obsoleta Menozzi, 1931
- Syntype worker: Costa Rica, Vara Blanca (Schmidt) [DEIC] (examined). Incorrect synonymy with C. gilva by Longino, 2006:135.
No one has been able to locate the syntypes of C. guatemalensis and they are presumed lost. Longino searched MHNG in 1990, Mackay and Mackay at some later time, and Fisher’s imaging crew recently. Likewise a search by curators at BMNH failed to locate the syntypes. Forel described the race as being smaller than C. ochracea. Cryptopone ochracea is smaller than typical C. gilva, and thus Forel’s syntypes were probably the smaller of the two sympatric species in Guatemala, and not the larger one described here as C. gilvagrande. We thus establish a neotype for C. guatemalensis.