Cryptopone testacea

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: New Caledonia. Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Micronesia (Federated States of), New Guinea, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands. Malagasy Region: Madagascar. Oriental Region: India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam. Palaearctic Region: China.

Biology
A species with a highly cryptic lifestyle and rarely seen on the surface. Workers can be found under large rocks, logs, and soil covered with leaf litter who would seek coverage if exposed to light. They hunt small insects as prey such as termites and will deliver a mild sting to paralyze the prey. The sting from this species to us isn't very painful and the pain lasts only a minute or two. The nest structure is unknown but they make tunnels that spread away from the nest area. The nests contain a single queen and are estimated to have small colonies.

These ants send out alates in the months December-January, April-June, and sometimes in August as well. These queens can be found flying toward light sources nearby but would go away from them after a few minutes. Both male and female alates are attracted to light but most of the time it's only queens or males making the probability of finding a fertile queen extremely low most of the time.

In captivity
It's not very easy to raise them in captivity because mainly most of the time the queens collected are infertile, or they would die from stress or other problems. I've been able to raise a colony with 3 queens which I was able to keep alive for a few months where the queens started killing each other, with only one queen left after the second batch of workers emerged. This queen was then beheaded by a worker who was also laying eggs in the meantime which was likely due to the fact that the worker wanted to be more dominant than the queen. The worker did start laying eggs which they raised until larvae but then one day the entire colony died due to unknown reasons.

Most of the time a queen would shed her wings within 3 days and start laying eggs a few days later. It takes roughly 40 days for an adult ant to develop from an egg, and during that time the queen (who is semi-claustral like other Ponerinae) would go out in search of tiny insects to feed the larvae.

If you manage to keep these ants in captivity would accept any small insects like termites, roaches, mosquitoes, flies, and occasionally honey as food and they can be housed in a setup with enough soil and humidity.

Nomenclature

 * . Cryptopone testacea Emery, 1893a: cclxxv (w.) SRI LANKA.
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
 * Type-locality: Sri Lanka (no further data).
 * [Note: Emery, 1893f: 240 supplies the missing Sri Lanka data: Nawalapitya, i.-ii.1892 (E. Simon).]
 * Type-depository: MSNG.
 * [Also described as new by Emery, 1893f: 240 (attributed to Motschoulsky).]
 * [Note: Cryptopone testacea Emery, 1893a: cclxxv (w.), is not conspecific nor congeneric with Amblyopone? testacea Motschoulsky, 1863: 15 (q.) (Wilson, 1958d: 360). Emery, 1893a: cclxxv, stated, “J’établis ce genre [Cryptopone] sur un Insecte que je crois être l’ouvrière dont Motschulsky a décrit la femelle sous le nom de Amblyopone? testacea.” He was mistaken.]
 * Donisthorpe, 1942d: 451 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1986c: 88 (l.); Imai, et al. 1984: 67 (k.); Tjan, et al. 1986: 57 (k.).
 * Status as species: Emery, 1893f: 240; Bingham, 1903: 104; Forel, 1913k: 10; Wheeler, W.M. 1933g: 6; Donisthorpe, 1942d: 451; Wilson, 1958d: 360; Wilson & Taylor, 1967: 23; Taylor, 1976a: 79; Dlussky, 1994: 53; Bolton, 1995b: 167; Tiwari, 1999: 30; Wetterer & Vargo, 2003: 416; Clouse, 2007b: 262; Pfeiffer, et al. 2011: 55; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 58; Bharti & Wachkoo, 2013b: 4 (in key); Sarnat, et al. 2013: 73; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 49; Dias, R.K.S. et al. 2020: 106; Khachonpisitsak, et al. 2020: 141.
 * Senior synonym of anommata: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 167.
 * Senior synonym of emeryi: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 167.
 * Senior synonym of mayri: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 167.
 * Senior synonym of sarawakana: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 167.
 * Distribution: China, India, Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Malaysia (Peninsula, Sarawak), Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Is, Sri Lanka, Thailand.
 * anommata. Ponera anommata Donisthorpe, 1948b: 301 (w.m.) NEW GUINEA (Indonesia).
 * Type-material: 1 syntype worker, 1 syntype male.
 * Type-locality: Indonesia: Irian Jaya (“Dutch New Guinea”), Maffin Bay, 20.vi.1944 (E.S. Ross).
 * Type-depository: CASC.
 * Status as species: Chapman & Capco, 1951: 68.
 * Junior synonym of testacea: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 166.
 * emeryi. Cryptopone emeryi Donisthorpe, 1943a: 168 (footnote).
 * Unnecessary replacement name for testacea: Wilson, 1958d: 360.
 * Junior synonym of testacea: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 166.
 * mayri. Cryptopone mayri Mann, 1919: 293 (w.q.) SOLOMON IS (Isabel I., Ugi I., San Cristoval I.).
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated), 1 syntype queen.
 * Type-locality: Solomon Is: Ysabel I., Fulakora (W.M. Mann).
 * Type-depository: MCZC.
 * Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1952c: 630 (l.).
 * Status as species: Wheeler, W.M. 1933g: 7; Wheeler, W.M. 1935g: 12.
 * Junior synonym of testacea: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 166.
 * sarawakana. Cryptopone sarawakana Wheeler, W.M. 1933g: 11, fig. 4 (w.m.) BORNEO (East Malaysia: Sarawak).
 * Type-material: 2 syntype workers, 3 syntype males.
 * Type-locality: Malaysia: Sarawak, Mt Poi (E. Mjöberg).
 * Type-depository: MCZC.
 * Status as species: Chapman & Capco, 1951: 53.
 * Junior synonym of testacea: Wilson, 1958d: 360; Bolton, 1995b: 167.

Description
Worker

Bingham (1903): "Testaceous, pubescent, sparsely pilose, subopaque, very lightly punctured ; head opaque, thickly punctured, thorax near the mesonotum narrowly raised, metanotum scarcely depressed but moderately compressed, posteriorly obliquely truncate, the declivous face shining, pedicel rounded above, below furnished with a lamina, the posterior portion of the abdomen shining." (Emery.)

Length: 6 mm

Queen

Bingham (1903): "Elongate, opaque, testaceous; eyes large, black, slightly prominent ; head subquadrate, posteriorly bilobed, with three distinct ocelli; front raised between the base of the antennae, carinate on each side, the carinae posteriorly close together, parallel; clypeus truncate ; mandibles porrect, with 5 acute teeth; antennae clavate, about half the length of the body, 12-jointed; thorax narrower, the head elongate ; node thick, subquadrate, with the angles rounded ; abdomen about as broad as the thorax, elongate, the first two segments arched, the three following segments shorter, attenuate towards the apex ; wings whitish hyaline, nervures testaceous." (Motsch.)

Length: 5 mm

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * CSIRO Collection
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 * Dias R. K. S., K. R. K. A. Kosgamage, and H. A. W. S. Peiris. 2012. The Taxonomy and Conservation Status of Ants (Order: Hymenoptera, Family: Formicidae) in Sri Lanka. In: The National Red List 2012 of Sri Lanka; Conservation Status of the Fauna and Flora. Weerakoon, D.K. & S. Wijesundara Eds., Ministry of Environment, Colombo, Sri Lanka. p11-19.
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