Abstract
The monophyly of Ponerinae was strongly supported by a detailed molecular phylogenetic study. Within the subfamily, substantial changes were yet done to the taxonomy of several genera, such as Cryptopone Emery, and after phylogenetic and morphological considerations, the genus Cryptopone was revived. Cryptopone is a moderately large genus of pantropical distribution, with 25 described species and subspecies, with its diversity centered mostly in East and Southeast Asia. In the New World, only four species were known until now, Cryptopone gilva (Roger), Cryptopone guianensis (Weber), Cryptopone holmgreni (Wheeler) and Cryptopone mirabilis (Mackay & Mackay). Since the Mackay and Mackay’s revision of 2010 of the genus Pachycondyla which included the species currently attributed to Cryptopone, no new species was added to Cryptopone genus in the New World. Recently an unidentified Cryptopone species was collected in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. The material here described was sampled by manual collection of soil in the Floresta Nacional do Jamari (FLONA Jamari). Four individuals belonging to the worker caste are hereafter described under the name of Cryptopone pauli sp. nov. Currently this ant is known only to a single locality in the state of Rondônia, Brazil. This is also the first record of this genus for that state. We present new records of Cryptopone for the Neotropical Region with some comments on its biology and an updated key to workers of the five species of Cryptopone currently known in the New World.
Highlights
The worker of C. holmgreni can be separated from C. pauli sp. nov. by size, since the total length of C. holmgreni does not reach 5.00 mm and the triangular mandible is not elongatetriangular such as in C. pauli sp. nov
Cryptopone guianensis can be separated from C. pauli sp. nov. by the elongate mandibles with an unusual tooth at mid-length, noticeably longer than the others
C. gilva can be separated from C. pauli sp. nov. by its subpetiolar process, which is translucent and by the presence of a prora, while in C. pauli sp. nov., it is dull and absent, respectively
Summary
Cryptopone is a moderately large genus (25 described species and subspecies) with its probable radiation center in East and Southeast Asia (Brown, 1963; Bolton et al., 2006; Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014). C. mirabilis (MacKay & MacKay, 2010) was described from specimens collected in Bolivia and Mato Grosso State, Brazil, but Longino (2015) examined the C. mirabilis holotype from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and concluded that it is Centromyrmex brachycola (Roger, 1861). Longino comments that the type series of C. mirabilis (collected by Mann from Bolivia, Rosario on Lake Rocagua) was obtained from a series already studied by Kempf (1966) and considered as Centromyrmex brachycola in his revision of the Neotropical members of the genus. We exclude further consideration of C. mirabilis in the present study
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