Crematogaster tenuicula

In Costa Rica this species is common in lowland wet forests of the Osa Penisula.

Identification
Longino (2003) - The morphology of this species is quite uniform across its range. It is very similar to Crematogaster brasiliensis, with which it shares the ventral postpetiolar tooth. In Costa Rica the two species are easily distinguishable, because the petiole in lateral profile is elongate and low in brasiliensis, almost linear, with an anteroventral tooth, while in tenuicula it is shorter and taller, more triangular, and lacks an anteroventral tooth. However, in South America the petiole of brasiliensis becomes shorter and taller and the petiole of tenuicula may develop a small anteroventral tooth. The relationship of the posterolateral lobes of the dorsal face to the posterior aperture is consistent across the range of both species, with brasiliensis having a large aperture relative to the lobes and tenuicula having a small aperture.

Crematogaster tenuicula may also be confused with Crematogaster carinata, Crematogaster limata, and Crematogaster foliocrypta. Crematogaster carinata and limata lack a ventral postpetiolar tooth. Crematogaster foliocrypta has appressed tibial pilosity in contrast to the erect pilosity of tenuicula.

Distribution
Costa Rica to Amazonian Brazil, Bolivia.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Venezuela.

Biology
Longino (2003) - Crematogaster tenuicula occurs in lowland wet forest habitats, in either mature forest or second growth vegetation. In Costa Rica, the species is common on the Osa Peninsula. I have seen only one Costa Rican collection from beyond the Osa, made by D. Olson at Carara Biological Reserve. During my extensive fieldwork in Corcovado National Park in the early 1980's, I frequently encountered tenuicula. Workers built small carton pavilions on low vegetation, covering aggregations of honeydew-producing Homoptera (Coccoidea and Membracidae) that they tended. These carton pavilions were a relatively common site on many different plant species. Isolated workers were common as foragers on low vegetation, visiting extrafloral nectaries and scavenging small dead arthropods. They could be attracted to baits of dead insects or sugar solution. Foragers were active day and night.

Several observations suggest a somewhat diffuse, polydomous nest structure, with spatial segregation of workers, reproductives, and brood of various ages and castes. When baiting, I observed columns of recruiting workers returning to the carton pavilions, within which were workers and Homoptera only. These pavilions never contained brood. In one case, workers recruited to a freshly killed tabanid from two sources: (1) a small, flat chamber under moss on a tree trunk, 50cm high, containing workers only; and (2) a dead, rolled-up leaf lying on the surface of the leaf litter. This leaf contained workers and many winged reproductives of both sexes, but no brood. When I disturbed the ants or watched ants returning with pieces of the bait, they always went to one of these two places. I could not find any more of the colony or any brood. In another case, I found a set of disconnected nests in a vertical, rotten tree trunk. Ants occupied elongate indentations and chambers in the hard outer wood. Again, as in the above case, all the chambers contained mainly adult workers and alates. Some contained large larvae and pupae of reproductives, but I found no chambers with worker brood. I have never seen a definitive nest center with physogastric queen and worker brood.

Beyond Costa Rica I have very little information on the biology of tenuicula. Several of the collections from beyond Costa Rica are from Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter from the forest floor, and Ward collected it "ex Tachigali," an ant plant. One worker was found in stomach contents of a dendrobatid frog from French Guiana.

Nomenclature

 *  tenuicula. Crematogaster longispina r. tenuicula Forel, 1904c: 36 (w.) BRAZIL. Longino, 2003a: 119 (q.). Combination in C. (Orthocrema): Emery, 1922e: 136. Raised to species: Longino, 2003a: 118.

Worker
Longino (2003) - HL 0.641, 0.617, 0.822; HW 0.657, 0.645, 0.884; HC 0.616, 0.579, 0.833; SL 0.656, 0.659, 0.797; EL 0.137, 0.145, 0.199; A11L 0.275; A11W 0.125; A10L 0.142; A10W 0.103; A09L 0.074; A09W 0.069; A08L 0.055; A08W 0.063; WL 0.753, 0.726, 0.913; SPL 0.152, 0.171, 0.173; PTH 0.166, 0.149, 0.213; PTL 0.244, 0.241, 0.349; PTW 0.159, 0.163, 0.230; PPL 0.185, 0.168, 0.203; PPW 0.166, 0.175, 0.232; CI 102, 105, 108; OI 21, 24, 24; SI 102, 107, 97; PTHI 68, 62, 61; PTWI 65, 68, 66; PPI 90, 104, 114; SPI 20, 24, 19; ACI 1.39.

Color pale yellow brown to dark red brown; workers monomorphic in size.

Mandibles smooth and shining; clypeus smooth and shining; head about as long as wide, subquadrate, with broadly convex sides and flat to weakly emarginate posterior border; antenna with terminal two segments enlarged to form a club, third segment from end somewhat enlarged, blurring distinction between two and three-segmented club; scapes with abundant long erect setae; when scapes laid back from antennal insertions, they surpass margin of vertex; face largely smooth and shining, with variable extent of striated region between antennal insertion and eye, and whorled above antennal insertion; face covered with abundant long flexuous white setae, no appressed pubescence; in face view abundant setae project from lateral and posterior margins.

Promesonotum in profile similar to Crematogaster brasiliensis, somewhat flattened dorsally, short anterior face of pronotum rises to dorsal face, dorsal faces of pronotum and mesonotum subequal in length, horizontal, forming single flat surface or weakly arched and meeting at a slightly produced angle; dorsal and posterior faces of mesonotum meeting at rounded angle, posterior face dropping to propodeal suture; propodeal suture deep in dorsal view but less pronounced in profile due to lateral carinulae that bridge the suture; lateral carinulae weakly notched, lacking minute triangular teeth at propodeal suture (unlike brasiliensis); propodeal spines medium length, projecting posteriorly; propodeum with short, weakly differentiated dorsal face and long posterior declivity sloping to petiolar insertion; pronotal dorsum smooth and shining or with weakly developed longitudinal carinulae laterally; anterodorsal face of mesonotum with weak, subparallel lateral carinae, these continue onto posterodorsal face as stronger carinae that converge posteriorly, interspace concave, smooth and shining; propodeal declivity smooth and shining; side of pronotum smooth and shining; katepisternum weakly to distinctly punctate or punctatorugose; side of propodeum very faintly sculptured; mesosomal dorsum with abundant long flexuous white setae, setae on pronotal humeri longest; femora and tibiae with abundant long erect setae.

Petiole in side triangular, smooth and shining; anteroventral margin lacking tooth or rarely with a small rounded projection; posterior ring-like aperture that receives postpetiole small, posterolateral lobes of dorsal face of petiole distinctly higher than dorsal margin of aperture when petiole viewed in profile with ventral margin horizontal (unlike brasiliensis, in which posterior aperture is large, dorsal margin at nearly same level as posterolateral lobes of dorsal face); dorsal face of petiole smooth and shining, elongate, widest posteriorly, regularly tapering anteriorly, with long flexuous setae along posterior border; postpetiole with distinct, subacute, short anteroventral tooth, globular in dorsal view, with abundant erect setae; fourth abdominal tergite smooth and shining, with abundant long flexuous erect white setae, no appressed pubescence.

Queen
Longino (2003) - A normal queen (dorsal face of propodeum drops steeply from postscutellum and much of propodeum appears ventral to scutellum and postscutellum) with general shape, sculpture, and pilosity characters of the worker; size characters as in Figures; sharply bicolored, with red head, mesosoma, petiole, and postpetiole, and black gaster (based on two nest collections, one from Costa Rica, one from near Manaus, Brazil). I cannot find any consistent differences between queens of tenuicula and brasiliensis.

Type Material
Longino (2003) - Syntype workers: Brazil, Para (Göldi) (examined).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Alonso L. E., J. Persaud, and A. Williams. 2016. Biodiversity assessment survey of the south Rupununi Savannah, Guyana. BAT Survey Report No.1, 306 pages.
 * Arruda F. V., M. A. Pesquero, D. G. Marcelino, G. A. Leiter, J. H. C. Delabie, and R. Fagundes. 2015. Size and condition of bamboo as structural factors behind the vertical stratification of the bamboo-nesting ant community. Insectes Sociaux DOI 10.1007/s00040-015-0440-4
 * Blaimer B. B. 2012. Acrobat ants go global  Origin, evolution and systematics of the genus Crematogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 65: 421-436.
 * Delabie J. H. C., R. Céréghino, S. Groc, A. Dejean, M. Gibernau, B. Corbara, and A. Dejean. 2009. Ants as biological indicators of Wayana Amerindian land use in French Guiana. Comptes Rendus Biologies 332(7): 673-684.
 * Fernandes I., and J. de Souza. 2018. Dataset of long-term monitoring of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the influence areas of a hydroelectric power plant on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin. Biodiversity Data Journal 6: e24375.
 * Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
 * Fichaux M., B. Bechade, J. Donald, A. Weyna, J. H. C. Delabie, J. Murienne, C. Baraloto, and J. Orivel. 2019. Habitats shape taxonomic and functional composition of Neotropical ant assemblages. Oecologia 189(2): 501-513.
 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
 * Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, M. Leponce, J. Orivel, R. Silvestre, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and A. Dejean. 2013. Leaf-litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover. Myrmecological News 19: 43-51.
 * INBio Collection (via Gbif)
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Leponce M., J. H. C. Delabie, J. Orivel, J. Jacquemin, M. Calvo Martin, and A. Dejean. 2019. Tree-dwelling ant survey (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Mitaraka, French Guiana, in Touroult J. (ed.), “Our Planet Reviewed” 2015 large-scale biotic survey in Mitaraka, French Guiana. Zoosystema 41 (10): 163-179.
 * Longino J. T. L., and M. G. Branstetter. 2018. The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants. Ecography 41: 1-12.
 * Longino J. et al. ADMAC project. Accessed on March 24th 2017 at https://sites.google.com/site/admacsite/
 * Longino, J.T. 2003. The Crematogaster (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) of Costa Rica. Zootaxa 151:1-150
 * Lopes M. C., G. P. A. Lamarre, C. Baraloto, P. V. A. Fine, A. Vincentini, and F. B. Baccaro. 2019. The Amazonas-trap: a new method for sampling plant-inhabiting arthropod communities in tropical forest understory. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12797
 * Miranda P. N., F. B. Baccaro, E. F. Morato, M. A. Oliveira. J. H. C. Delabie. 2017. Limited effects of low-intensity forest management on ant assemblages in southwestern Amazonian forests. Biodivers. Conserv. DOI 10.1007/s10531-017-1368-y
 * Pereira Souza J. L., F. Beggiato Baccaro, V. Lemes Landeiro, E. Franklin, W. E. Magnusson, P. Aurelio, C. Lima Pequeno, and I. Oliveira Fernandes. 2015. Taxonomic sufficiency and indicator taxa reduce sampling costs and increase monitoring effectiveness for ants. Diversity and Distributions 1-12. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12371
 * Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
 * Rosa da Silva R. 1999. Formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) do oeste de Santa Catarina: historico das coletas e lista atualizada das especies do Estado de Santa Catarina. Biotemas 12(2): 75-100.
 * Santos M. P. C. J., A. F. Carrano-Moreira, and J. B. Torres. 2012. Diversity of soil ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in dense Atlantic Forest and sugarcane plantationsin the County of Igarassu-PE. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Agrárias 7(4): 648-656.
 * Santschi F. 1923. Solenopsis et autres fourmis néotropicales. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 30: 245-273.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1916. Ants collected in British Guiana by the expedition of the American Museum of Natural History during 1911. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 35: 1-14.
 * da Silva de Oliveira A. B., and F. A. Schmidt. 2019. Ant assemblages of Brazil nut trees Bertholletia excelsa in forest and pasture habitats in the Southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Biodiversity and Conservation 28(2): 329-344.
 * de Souza J. L. P., F. B. Baccarob, V. L. Landeirob, E. Franklinc, and W. E. Magnussonc. 2012. Trade-offs between complementarity and redundancy in the use of different sampling techniques for ground-dwelling ant assemblages. Applied Soil Ecology 56: 63 73.