Cryptopone gilva (Roger 1863)

Longino notes: In Costa Rica, Cryptopone gilva is restricted to cloud forest habitats. For example, it is common in the ridge crest cloud forest in the Monteverde area (1400-1600m), rare around "El Aleman" at the head of the Penas Blancas Valley (900m), and absent at Casa Eladio further down the valley (800m). In Monteverde it is common under loose bark of dead wood and under epiphyte mats in the low arboreal zone: ground level to a few meters high. I often encounter lone founding queens. I find colonies in logs at a certain stage of decay, when the bark comes off in intact sheets, and there is a thin layer of decayed humus between the bark and the still hard wood. Workers are found thinly scattered in anastomosing tunnels in the humus layer. As a bark sheet is peeled away one to five workers may be revealed, which quickly disappear into holes in the wood and under adjacent bark. I have never been able to collect more than a few dozen workers from a colony, and I have never found an obvious colony center or distinct galleries with aggregations of workers and brood. Occasional larvae and pupae occur in the tunnels. The nesting behavior is very similar to that of Typhlomyrmex rogenhoferi, a species more common at lower elevations.

Specimens are occasionally taken in samples of sifted leaf litter (Winkler samples).

Southeastern United States, southern Mexico to Costa Rica. Costa Rica: cloud forests of Cordillera de Tilaran, Cordillera Volcanica Central, Cordillera de Talamanca.

Ponera gilva Roger, 1863a PDF: 170 (w.) U.S.A. Nearctic. Primary type information: Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated). Type-locality: North America (no further data). Type-depository: MNHU. AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

Creighton & Tulloch, 1930 PDF: 74 (q.m.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1952c PDF: 625 (l.).Combination in Pachycondyla (Pseudoponera): Emery, 1901b PDF: 46.Combination in Euponera (Trachymesopus): Emery, 1911e PDF: 86.Combination in Trachymesopus: Kempf, 1960f: 424.Combination in Pachycondyla: MacKay & MacKay, 2010 PDF: 352.Combination in Cryptopone: Brown, 1963a PDF: 3; Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014 PDF: 185.Status as species: Roger, 1863b PDF: 16; Mayr, 1863a PDF: 448; Mayr, 1886d PDF: 438; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 258; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 39; Emery, 1895d PDF: 266; Emery, 1896g PDF: 54 (in key); Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 561; Emery, 1911e PDF: 86; Smith, 1928b PDF: 244; Creighton & Tulloch, 1930 PDF: 74; Dennis, 1938 PDF: 277; Smith, 1944d PDF: 14; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 46; Smith, 1951c PDF: 786; Smith, 1958c PDF: 111; Carter, 1962a PDF: 6 (in list); Smith, 1967a PDF: 348; Smith, 1979: 1341; Deyrup et al., 1989 PDF: 93; Bolton, 1995b: 166; Deyrup, 2003 PDF: 44; MacGown & Forster, 2005 PDF: 67; Longino, 2006b PDF: 135; MacKay & MacKay, 2010 PDF: 352 (redescription); Deyrup, 2017: 20; Fernandes & Delabie, 2019 10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4354 PDF: 411 (in key).Senior synonym of Cryptopone guatemalensis: MacKay & MacKay, 2010 PDF: 352.Senior synonym of Cryptopone gilva harnedi: Creighton & Tulloch, 1930 PDF: 74; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 46; Smith, 1951c PDF: 786; Smith, 1979: 1341; Bolton, 1995b: 166; Longino, 2006b PDF: 135; MacKay & MacKay, 2010 PDF: 352.Senior synonym of Cryptopone obsoleta: Longino, 2006b PDF: 135; MacKay & MacKay, 2010 PDF: 352.