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Procryptocerus
| Procryptocerus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Procryptocerus convergens | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Procryptocerus Emery, 1887 |
| Type species | |
| Meranoplus striatus, now Procryptocerus striatus | |
| Diversity | |
| 44 species (Species Checklist, Species by Country)
| |
A genus of arboreal nesting species, the workers of which are often collected foraging in low vegetation.
Photo Gallery
Identification
Longino and Snelling (2002) - The genus Procryptocerus can be separated from Cephalotes (in the broad sense of Andrade and Baroni Urbani, 1999) by the combination of the following worker and queen characters: (1) antennal scrobe extending almost to margin of vertex, (2) eyes situated below the scrobe, (3) frontal carinae not covering the genae from above, (4) pronotum without spines or teeth, (5) metatarsus not compressed, and (6) petiole and postpetiole without projecting spines, teeth, or tubercles (Kempf, 1951). Procryptocerus workers are strictly monomorphic (Wheeler, 1984). The larvae of several species of Procryptocerus have been described by Wheeler and Wheeler (1954, 1973), but no features unique to the genus have been identified. Although the above characters allow a clean separation of Procryptocerus and Cephalotes, it remains unknown whether any of them are synapomorphic. Thus it is unknown whether Procryptocerus is monophyletic or the paraphyletic remainder of the Cephalotini after Cephalotes is removed.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps
Species by Region
Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.
| Afrotropical Region | Australasian Region | Indo-Australian Region | Malagasy Region | Nearctic Region | Neotropical Region | Oriental Region | Palaearctic Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Species | 2851 | 1736 | 3047 | 932 | 840 | 4391 | 1767 | 2925 |
Biology
Life History Traits
- Mean colony size: 62 (Greer et al., 2021)
- Compound colony type: not parasitic (Greer et al., 2021)
- Nest site: arboreal (Greer et al., 2021)
- Diet class: omnivore (Greer et al., 2021)
- Foraging stratum: arboreal (Greer et al., 2021)
Castes
Morphology
Worker Morphology
Explore: Show all Worker Morphology data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
• Eyes: >100 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: absent • Mesonotal Spines: absent • Propodeal Spines: present • Petiolar Spines: absent • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: absent
Phylogeny
| Myrmicinae |
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See Phylogeny of Myrmicinae for details.
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- PROCRYPTOCERUS [Myrmicinae: Cephalotini]
- Procryptocerus Emery, 1887b: 470 (footnote). Type-species: Meranoplus striatus, by subsequent designation of Wheeler, W.M. 1911f: 171.
Longino and Snelling (2002) - Kempf (1951) revised the genus, and subsequently published short addenda describing new species, making minor taxonomic changes, and providing new locality data (Kempf, 1957, 1960, 1964a, 1964b, 1969). The treatment of the Central American region, in particular, suffered from a severe paucity of material, and many of the taxa Kempf treated were known to him only by the type series (often a single specimen) or by brief published descriptions. New Central American material, the reevaluation of characters, and the examination of types warrant a review of the Central American species of the genus. Individual accounts for 14 species and a key to (Central American) species are provided. Species accounts include distribution, habitat affinities, nesting habits, and, in some cases, descriptions of nest contents.
References
- Ashmead, W. H. 1905c. A skeleton of a new arrangement of the families, subfamilies, tribes and genera of the ants, or the superfamily Formicoidea. Can. Entomol. 37: 381-384 (page 384, Procryptocerus in Cryptoceridae, Cryptocerinae)
- Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 196, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cephalotini)
- Boudinot, B.E. 2019. Hormigas de Colombia. Cap. 15. Clave para las subfamilias y generos basada en machos. Pp. 487-499 in: Fernández, F., Guerrero, R.J., Delsinne, T. (eds.) 2019d. Hormigas de Colombia. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 1198 pp.
- Burchill, A.T., Moreau, C.S. 2016. Colony size evolution in ants: macroevolutionary trends. Insectes Sociaux 63, 291–298 (doi:10.1007/s00040-016-0465-3).
- Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
- Cantone, S., Von Zuben, C.J. 2019. The hindwings of ants: A phylogenetic analysis. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2019, 1–11 (doi:10.1155/2019/7929717).
- Dalla Torre, K. W. von. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 289 pp. (page 139, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae)
- Dlussky, G. M.; Fedoseeva, E. B. 1988. Origin and early stages of evolution in ants. Pp. 70-144 in: Ponomarenko, A. G. (ed.) Cretaceous biocenotic crisis and insect evolution. Moskva: Nauka, 232 pp. (page 79, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini (anachronism))
- Emery, C. 1887h. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine). [concl.]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 25[=(2)(5): 465-473 (page 470, Procryptocerus as genus (footnote))
- Emery, C. 1895l. Die Gattung Dorylus Fab. und die systematische Eintheilung der Formiciden. Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. Geogr. Biol. Tiere 8: 685-778 (page 771, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Emery, C. 1914e. Intorno alla classificazione dei Myrmicinae. Rend. Sess. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna Cl. Sci. Fis. (n.s.) 18: 29-42 (page 42, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Emery, C. 1924f [1922]. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [concl.]. Genera Insectorum 174C: 207-397 (page 300, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Fernandez, F., Guerrero, R.J., Sánchez-Restrepo, A.F. 2021. Sistemática y diversidad de las hormigas neotropicales. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 47, 1–20 (doi:10.25100/socolen.v47i1.11082).
- Forel, A. 1892d. Attini und Cryptocerini. Zwei neue Apterostigma-Arten. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 8: 344-349 (page 345, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Forel, A. 1893b. Sur la classification de la famille des Formicides, avec remarques synonymiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 37: 161-167 (page 164, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Forel, A. 1895b. A fauna das formigas do Brazil. Bol. Mus. Para. Hist. Nat. Ethnogr. 1: 89-139 (page 132, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Forel, A. 1899d. Formicidae. [part]. Biol. Cent.-Am. Hym. 3: 25-56 (page 43, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Forel, A. 1917. Cadre synoptique actuel de la faune universelle des fourmis. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 51: 229-253 (page 246, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Hanisch, P.E., Sosa-Calvo, J., Schultz, T.R. 2022. The last piece of the puzzle? Phylogenetic position and natural history of the monotypic fungus-farming ant genus Paramycetophylax (Formicidae: Attini). Insect Systematics and Diversity 6 (1): 11:1-17 (doi:10.1093/isd/ixab029).
- Jansen, G., Savolainen, R. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of the ant tribe Myrmicini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160(3), 482–495 (doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00604.x).
- Kempf, W. W. 1951. A taxonomic study on the ant tribe Cephalotini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 22: 1-244 (page 15, Revision of genus; page 14, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cephalotini)
- Longino, J. T.; Snelling, R. R. 2002. A taxonomic revision of the Procryptocerus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Central America. Contr. Sci. (Los Angel.) 495: 1-30 (page 4, Central America species key)
- Serna, F. 2009. Revision of the ant genus Procryptocerus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Cephalotini). Open Access Theses & Dissertations, 355.
- Wheeler, W. M. 1910b. Ants: their structure, development and behavior. New York: Columbia University Press, xxv + 663 pp. (page 141, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)
- Wheeler, W. M. 1911g. A list of the type species of the genera and subgenera of Formicidae. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 21: 157-175 (page 171, Type-species: Meranoplus sriatus, by subsequent designation)
- Wheeler, W. M. 1922i. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VII. Keys to the genera and subgenera of ants. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 45: 631-710 (page 665, Procryptocerus in Myrmicinae, Cryptocerini)