Species: Cryptopone gilva

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2013)

Distribution:

Costa Rica: cloud forests of Cordillera de Tilaran, Cordillera Volcanica Central, Cordillera de Talamanca.

Biology:

Natural History:

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).

References:

Brown, W. L., Jr. 1963. Characters and synonymies amoung the genera of ants. Part III. Some members of the tribe Ponerini (Ponerinae, Formicidae). Breviora 190:1-10.

Forel, A. 1899. Formicidae. Biol. Cent.-Am. Hym. 3:1-160.

Kempf, W. W. 1972. Catalogo abreviado das formigas da Regiao Neotropical. Studia Entomol. 15:3-344.

Menozzi, C. 1931. Qualche nuova Formica di Costa Rica (Hym.). Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 92:188-202.

Roger, J. 1863. Die neu aufgefuehrten Gattungen und Arten meines Formiciden-Verzeichnisses nebst Erganzung einiger frueher gegebenen Beschreibungen. Berl. Entomol. Z. 7:131-214.

Taxon Page Author History

Specimen Data Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 102 times found in cloud forest, 23 times found in montane wet forest, 2 times found in Moist forest, 1 times found in mixed cloud forest, 1 times found in riparian mesophytic forest, 1 times found in montane rainforest, 1 times found in road edge nr cloud forest, 1 times found in montane tropical forest, 2 times found in cloud forest at night, 1 times found in cloud forest edge, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods or in the following microhabitats: 57 times MiniWinkler, 27 times search, 18 times Berlese, 22 times MaxiWinkler, 17 times Winkler, 7 times Mini Winkler, 2 times Baiting, 1 times Beating, 2 times Night MiniWinkler, 1 times malaise trap, 1 times Sweeping, ...

Elevations: collected from 20 - 2190 meters, 1516 meters average

10 Specimens Imaged | View All 220 Specimens for this species

CASENT0003325

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CASENT0006007

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CASENT0006054

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CASENT0006055

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CASENT0006056

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CASENT0103825

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CASENT0103829

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CASENT0104163

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CASENT0260410

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CASENT0260411

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