Cryptopone

Nests of Cryptopone are in soil under rocks, in rotten wood, in frass under loose bark or in leaf litter on the ground. The limited information available on these ants suggests that colonies are small, with fewer than 100 workers, and that foraging is primarily underground, in leaf litter or in rotten wood. The heavy setae or thin spines on the outer sides of the tibiae of the middle legs found in most species are thought to improve traction as workers forage through narrow passages in soil or rotten wood. One Japanese species is known to prey on fly and beetle larvae.



Worker of C. rotundiceps from Queensland.

Identification
The eyes are small, with fewer than 10 facets (ommatidia). The mandibles are triangular with teeth along their inner margins, and with a small oval or round depression or pit on their sides near the insertion into the head. The forward sections of the frontal lobes and antennal sockets are very close together and are separated by at most a very narrow rearward extension of the clypeus. The node of the petiole has distinct front, top and rear faces. The outer surfaces of the tibiae of the middle legs usually have a mixture of thickened peg-like setae or narrow spines and normal, thinner hairs. The tibiae of the hind legs each have a single large, comb-like (pectinate) spur at their tips (best viewed from the front).

Cryptopone belongs to a set of genera with similar overall body shape which includes Hypoponera, Pachycondyla and Ponera. Cryptopone differs from these in having a small oval or round depression or pit on the side of the mandible near the insertion into the head and most species also have thickened peg-like setae or narrow spines on the outer surfaces of the tibiae of the middle legs. A few species of Pachycondyla have a similar pit on the mandible, but these have both a large comb-like and a smaller simple spur on the hind leg while Cryptopone has only a single comb-like spur on its hind leg.

Distribution and Habitats
Australian distribution

Regional Species Lists

 * Australia

Keys to Species

 * Australia