Cryptopone ochracea

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Cryptopone ochracea
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Cryptopone
Species: C. ochracea
Binomial name
Cryptopone ochracea
(Mayr, 1855)

Cryptopone ochracea casent0903939 p 1 high.jpg

Cryptopone ochracea casent0903939 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Subspecies

In Greece, Cryptopone ochracea was collected in sandy beach area, wooded stream valley and deciduous gallery forest at low altitude from 1 to 350 m. Nests were observed under stones. (Borowiec and Salata 2022)

Identification

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 46.012324° to -22.16666985°.

     
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Saudi Arabia.
Palaearctic Region: Balearic Islands, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iberian Peninsula, Italy (type locality), Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Purkart and Repta. (2022) - Workers of the genus Cryptopone are perfectly adapted to foraging in the soil. They show morphological characters typical of this lifestyle including small size (body length 1.7–6.1 mm), slender body shape, depigmentation, greatly reduced or absent eyes and mesotibiae armed with traction setae. Queens are slightly larger versions of the workers with ocelli and larger eyes combined with modified thorax typical of alate specimens (Schmidt and Shattuck 2014). Due to its cryptobiotic habits, biology of most members of this genus are unknown. Several studies (e.g. Wheeler 1933, Terayama 1999, Radchenko 2005, Yamaguchi et al. 2017) reported observations of Cryptopone nesting in various microhabitats i.e. in leaf litter, soil cavities, rotting wood, termite nests, or even in pores of dead fungi. In this environment, they are probably predators of small arthropods.

Dealate queens of Cryptopone ochracea were collected in a Dunaújváros, Hungary garden on 13 August and 28 September of 2021. This suggests that nuptial flights take place sometime in the second half of the summer or until the beginning of autumn. This time of year is also typical for nuptial flights of other ant species with a similar lifestyle (Seifert 2018, Purkat et al. 2021). However, two observations are not sufficient to assess under which conditions this phenomenon occurs. It is obvious that alates do not fly out of their nests during heat waves, but probably at the time of an incoming cold front that interrupts a period of warmer days. Since only wingless gynes were detected, the time of observation may not exactly coincide with the time of nuptial flight.

Five of the dealates collected from the garden were set up in individual laboratory nests and fed (springtails, dead beetle larvae, dead webspinner juveniles, and cricket legs) ad libidum once a week. All the queens laid eggs, keeping from 1-15 at a time, and were able to maintain brood through to the pupal stage. One queen died having produced only one pupae and before the emergence of any workers. The 4 other queens did sucessfully produce workers; they were still alive, with workers in the nest, in October 2022.

Based on a study in Hungary (Báthori et al. 2022) it appears C. ochracea prefers nesting in the lowlands – both in natural and synanthropic environments. From our laboratory nests, we find these ants establish their colonies similarly to other Central European Ponerinae. For nesting, they use simple cavities in the soil, which adapt to the sealing of the substrate crevices with soil particles. They mostly use one exit to reach the surrounding area, and leave the nest cavity several times a day to catch various small prey. The first eggs are laid a few days after the nest chamber is established. Larvae are fed by depositing dead prey near them. Various changes in the number of eggs and larvae over time indicate cannibalism. Based on the records, the duration of the worker's development can be estimated at approximately 70 to 80 days. The development of the cocoon took about 35 days under the described conditions. As the substrate is used in a laboratory nest of this type, some events in the later stages of rearing in captivity could not be observed closely through the dirty glass. The difference to natural conditions is also the absence of hibernation. In any case, four successfully established C. ochracea colonies had from 5-12 workers in one year of observation.

These ants will inhabit cracks in soil, as well as actively building their own passages and cavities. The chambers created are approximately 8 millimetres wide and 3 millimetres deep. Brood is stored there and divided into piles depending on the stage. Workers enter the surrounding area via narrow corridors, where they actively hunt for small arthropods. Workers can develop a relatively high speed while chasing their prey. Springtails were often caught simply without the use of a stinger. When a worker brings prey to the nest, other individuals leave to forage. If the nest is disturbed, the workers actively defend it – for example by biting tweezers. After establishing a colony, the queen rarely leaves the nest chambers. When disturbed, workers gather around the queen, and lick her around the metapleural glands. The workers sometimes try to drag the queen to another place by pulling her mandibles. Brood in danger is not prioritised for safety. Immobility or other similar forms of defensive behaviour by individuals were not observed. This species cannot climb smooth surfaces.

Flight Period

X X
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: Purkart & Repta, 2022.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Cryptopone ochracea casent0915271 h 1 high.jpgCryptopone ochracea casent0915271 p 1 high.jpgCryptopone ochracea casent0915271 d 1 high.jpgCryptopone ochracea casent0915271 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Ponera ochracea. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0915271. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • ochracea. Ponera ochracea Mayr, 1855: 390 (footnote) (q.) ITALY.
    • Type-material: holotype queen.
    • Type-locality: none specified.
    • [Note: type-locality Italy: “Kirchenstaat” (= Papal States), from text in Mayr, 1855: 289.]
    • Type-depository: unknown (perhaps MNHU).
    • [Misspelled as choracea by Ceballos, 1956: 295.]
    • Emery, 1869b: 12 (w.); André, 1882c: 243 (m.).
    • Combination in Pachycondyla (Pseudoponera): Emery, 1901a: 46;
    • combination in Euponera (Pseudoponera): Emery, 1909c: 364;
    • combination in Euponera (Trachymesopus): Emery, 1911d: 86;
    • combination in Trachymesopus: Kempf, 1960f: 424;
    • combination in Cryptopone: Brown, 1963: 6.
    • Status as species: Smith, F. 1858b: 83; Roger, 1860: 285; Mayr, 1861: 55; Roger, 1863b: 16; Mayr, 1863: 449; Emery, 1869b: 12; Dours, 1873: 167; Emery, 1878b: 49; Mayr, 1879: 663 (in key); Emery & Forel, 1879: 455; André, 1882c: 241 (in key); Dalla Torre, 1893: 40; Emery, 1895b: 61; Forel, 1895d: 229; Ruzsky, 1905b: 758; Emery, 1909c: 364; Santschi, 1910e: 649; Emery, 1911d: 86; Emery, 1916b: 105; Bondroit, 1918: 81; Müller, 1921: 48; Menozzi, 1922b: 324; Müller, 1923b: 24; Menozzi, 1925d: 24; Vandel, 1926: 196; Karavaiev, 1927a: 282; Arnol’di, 1932b: 52; Grandi, 1935: 98; Menozzi, 1936d: 269; Bernard, 1950a: 2; Consani & Zangheri, 1952: 39; Ceballos, 1956: 295; Pisarski, 1967: 377; Bernard, 1967: 83 (redescription); Kutter, 1968a: 59; Collingwood & Yarrow, 1969: 54; Baroni Urbani, 1971c: 13; Kutter, 1977c: 28; Collingwood, 1978: 75 (in key); Arnol’di & Dlussky, 1978: 524 (in key); Collingwood, 1985: 239; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987a: 52; Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b: 264 (in key); Dlussky, Soyunov & Zabelin, 1990: 174; Casevitz-Weulersse, 1990c: 434; Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 67; Mei, 1992a: 414; Bolton, 1995b: 166; Poldi, et al. 1995: 2; Collingwood & Agosti, 1996: 310; Espadaler, 1997b: 32; Csösz, 2003: 153; Bračko, 2006: 134; Markó, Sipos, et al. 2006: 69; Petrov, 2006: 83 (in key); Bračko, 2007: 17; Vonshak, et al. 2009: 45; Werner & Wiezik, 2007: 144; Gratiashvili & Barjadze, 2008: 144; Casevitz-Weulersse & Galkowski, 2009: 498; Lapeva-Gjonova, et al. 2010: 5; Csösz, et al. 2011: 56; Legakis, 2011: 3; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2012: 491; Kiran & Karaman, 2012: 29; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2013: 352; Borowiec, L. 2014: 70 (see note in bibliography); Lebas, et al. 2016: 402; Radchenko, 2016: 73; Salata & Borowiec, 2018c: 44; Seifert, 2018: 147; Borowiec, L. & Salata, 2022: 23.
    • Distribution: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Croatia, France (+ Corsica), Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy (+ Sardinia, Sicily), Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain (+ Balearics), Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.
    • Current subspecies: nominal plus sicula.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Borowiec and Salata (2022) - Small: HL: 0.730-0.794 (mean 0.762); HW: 0.667-0.683 (mean 0.675); SL: 0.492-0.539 (mean 0.516); ML: 0.96-1.11; MW: 0.45-0.51. Color. Body uniformly yellow including antennae and legs. Head. Stout, 1.1 times as long as wide, almost parallelsided, occipital corners rounded, occipital margin shallowly concave. Clypeus transverse, with rounded anterior margin and strongly convergent sides. Clypeus distinctly microreticulated with numerous short to long suberect setae, anterior margin with a row of long setae, the longest in the middle of clypeal margin with length up to 0.159. Head with slightly granulate microsculpture, appears indistinctly dull, with short and dense suberect pubescence not covering head surface, erected setae absent, only frontal plate with moderately long decumbent to suberect hairs, ventral side of head with subdecumbent to decumbent pubescence and few short erected setae. Scape short, 0.7- 0.8 times as long as width of head, stout, distinctly widened from base to apex, but apically shallowly constricted, its surface microreticulate but shiny, with short and dense subdecumbent to decumbent pubescence and sparse, short erect setae. Funicular segments transverse, stout, only first segment 2.0-2.1 times as long as wide, segments 2-5 very short, more than twice shorter than first segment, the rest of funicular segments distinctly broader than six basal segments. Eyes very small, placed close to anterior margin of head, composed with at most 6 ommatidia. Mandibles sparsely punctate, interspaces smooth and shiny. Mesosoma. Elongate, 2.2 times as long as wide, distinctly microsculptured dorsally, lateral sides with weaker sculpture, with moderately long and dense subdecumbent to decumbent pubescence more or less covering body surface, pronotum anterolaterally and mesonotum and propodeum posterolaterally with a long erect seta. In lateral view pronotum slightly convex, mesonotum and propodeum straight or slightly concave in mesonotal suture, posterior face of propodeum almost perpendicular, mesonotal suture distinct. Waist and gaster. Petiole in form of high, trapezoidal node, with almost flat and oblique anterior face, and flat perpendicular posterior face, apex rounded, frontal and lateral faces with moderately dense decumbent to suberect hairs, apical crest with a row of erected setae. Gaster longer than mesosoma, tergites distinctly micropunctate, surface shiny, covered with moderately long and dense appressed to decumbent pubescence. First two gastral tergites with few moderately long erected setae, third tergite with several long erected setae. Legs. Stout, tibiae distinctly widened from base to apex, surface covered with long and dense decumbent to suberect hairs, with few erected long setae, especially on mid tibiae, inner margin of tibiae lacking row of thorns.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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