Crematogaster pilosa Emery 1895

Habitat: There seems to be some confusion regarding the ecology, or perhaps the identification, of C. pilosa. According to Johnson (1988) -- the species is mainly arboreal preferring mesic forests, overgrown fields, orchards, landscaped areas, and will nest in trees, grasses, reeds, etc.-, and MacGown at http://www.msstate.edu/org/mississippientmuseum/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/genericpages/Cremato.pilosa.htm states -- Crematogaster pilosa is a common species in this area that nests in logs, fallen branches, and in hollow stems of many species of plants (shrubs, grass, trees, forbes {sic}, etc.). Both of these accounts are at variance with other published reports and my own experience of this ant as a species that nests near the ground in wet-mesic and wet habitats. In an account from Ohio by Coovert (2005) more similar to my experience, it is reported from semi-open and areas as well as moist woods, and significantly, he also reports it feeding at flowers of Oxypolis rigidior, a wet-prairie and sedge meadow plant. In Missouri, I have collected C. pilosa nesting in sedge tussocks both in a wet prairie in Howell Co. and in a fen in Washington Co.

Natural History: Largely unknown, but C. pilosa no doubt preys, scavenges and gathers honeydew and nectar like its congeners. Alates are reared and disperse in high summer.

NEARCTIC: USA

Crematogaster lineolata subsp. pilosa Emery, 1895d PDF: 285, attributed to Pergande. (w.) U.S.A. (District of Columbia). Nearctic. AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

Wheeler, 1933d PDF: 85 (q.) (in text); Morgan & Mackay, 2017 PDF: 321 (m.).Combination in Crematogaster (Acrocoelia): Emery, 1922c PDF: 141.Combination in Crematogaster (Crematogaster): Buren, 1968b PDF: 92.Combination in Crematogaster (Crematogaster): Blaimer, 2012c PDF: 55.Raised to species: Wheeler, 1919h PDF: 111; Creighton, 1950a PDF: 216; Johnson, 1988: 321.Senior synonym of Crematogaster creightoni and material of the nomen nudum Crematogaster subpilosa referred here: Buren, in Smith, 1958c PDF: 127.

Crematogaster pilosa species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is native along the southern Atlantic coast of the United States and some interior areas. These polydomous ants have been found living in tidal marshes, wet meadows and other environments in plant stems, logs, and fallen branches.