''Procryptocerus'' is a

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

gliding ant Gliding ants are arboreal ants of several different genera that are able to control the direction of their descent when falling from a tree. Living in the rainforest canopy like many other gliders, gliding ants use their gliding to return to the ...

s, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on.

Distribution

''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the

Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. Due to their cryptic habits, living inside twigs, these ants are rarely collected. At present, most species are known from

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Taxonomy

The genus was created by Emery (1887) to include species of

ants that were considered similar to those of the

Paleotropical The Paleotropical kingdom (Paleotropis) is a floristic kingdom composed of the tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), as proposed by Ronald Good and Armen Takhtajan. Part of its flora is inherited fr ...

genus '' Cataulacus''. ''Procryptocerus'' has been the object of two revisionary studies. Kempf (1951) revised the entire genus and Longino and Snelling (2002) the Central American species. Kempf (1951) recognized 28 species, and 8 subspecies, while for Central America Longino and Snelling (2002) recognized 14 species, described four new species, synonymized two species, and elevated two subspecies to species level. Currently, 45 species are included in the genus.

Description

The genus is characterized by the protrusion of the clypeus forming a broad nasus and antennal scrobes over the eyes. The toruli are located right posterior to the flanks of the nasus opposite to each other. The vertex is deflexed posteriorly in most species. ''Procryptocerus'' ants possess notoriously variable morphology. Different characters, such as propodeal spine length, form of the clypeus, type of sculpture, and other such characters vary remarkably, sometimes even within the same species. Knowledge of morphology and anatomy is incomplete for all species. Adult workers are mostly black in color, body variously sculptured and monomorphic, ranging from 3.5 to 8.5 mm. Although similar to workers, gyne are larger (3.7–9.5 mm) with thoracic

sclerites A sclerite (Greek , ', meaning " hard") is a hardened body part. In various branches of biology the term is applied to various structures, but not as a rule to vertebrate anatomical features such as bones and teeth. Instead it refers most commonly ...

corresponding to

alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form of ...

s in other apocritans. Males are longer and more slender than gynes, ranging from 4.8 mm to 9.9 mm in length.

Species

*'' Procryptocerus adlerzi'' (Mayr, 1887) *'' Procryptocerus attenuatus'' (Smith, 1876) *'' Procryptocerus balzani'' Emery, 1894 *'' Procryptocerus batesi'' Forel, 1899 *'' Procryptocerus belti'' Forel, 1899 *'' Procryptocerus carbonarius'' (Mayr, 1870) *'' Procryptocerus clathratus'' Emery, 1896 *'' Procryptocerus convergens'' (Mayr, 1887) *''

Procryptocerus convexus ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' Forel, 1904 *''

Procryptocerus coriarius ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' (Mayr, 1870) *''

Procryptocerus curvistriatus ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' Kempf, 1949 *''

Procryptocerus eladio ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' Longino & Snelling, 2002 *''

Procryptocerus elegans ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' Santschi, 1921 *''

Procryptocerus ferreri ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus (biology), genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus o ...

Procryptocerus striatus ''Procryptocerus'' is a Neotropical genus of gliding ants, with the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they were on. Distribution ''Procryptocerus'' inhabits rainforests from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in ...

'' (Smith, 1860) *'' Procryptocerus subpilosus'' (Smith, 1860) *'' Procryptocerus sulcatus'' Emery, 1894 *'' Procryptocerus tortuguero'' Longino & Snelling, 2002 *'' Procryptocerus victoris'' Kempf, 1960 *'' Procryptocerus virgatus'' Kempf, 1964

References

* * *Longino JT, Snelling RR. (2002) "A Taxonomic revision of the ''Procryptocerus'' (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Central America." ''Contributions in Science'', Number 495. Natural History Museum, Los Angeles. * *

External links

* {{Authority control Myrmicinae Ant genera Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America Taxa named by Carlo Emery