RESUMEN
Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America. The ATLANTIC ANTS data set, which is part of the ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, is a compilation of ant records from collections (18,713 records), unpublished data (29,651 records), and published sources (106,910 records; 1,059 references), including papers, theses, dissertations, and book chapters published from 1886 to 2020. In total, the data set contains 153,818 ant records from 7,636 study locations in the Atlantic Forest, representing 10 subfamilies, 99 genera, 1,114 ant species identified with updated taxonomic certainty, and 2,235 morphospecies codes. Our data set reflects the heterogeneity in ant records, which include ants sampled at the beginning of the taxonomic history of myrmecology (the 19th and 20th centuries) and more recent ant surveys designed to address specific questions in ecology and biology. The data set can be used by researchers to develop strategies to deal with different macroecological and region-wide questions, focusing on assemblages, species occurrences, and distribution patterns. Furthermore, the data can be used to assess the consequences of changes in land use in the Atlantic Forest on different ecological processes. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set, but we request that authors cite this data paper when using these data in publications or teaching events.
Asunto(s)
Ecosistema , Bosques , Animales , Biodiversidad , Suelo , América del SurRESUMEN
We revise the taxonomy of the exclusively Neotropical Myrmicinae ant genus Blepharidatta (Attini), redescribing the known species (B. brasiliensis and B. conops), and describing two new species, B. delabiei sp. n. (Brazil: Bahia) and B. fernandezi sp. n. (Colombia: Amazonas). We also describe worker sting apparatuses, larvae, males, and ergatoid gynes of all species, except for B. fernandezi, known only from few worker specimens; we provide a key for identifying workers, present distribution maps for all species and summarize the knowledge on the biology of Blepharidatta species.
Asunto(s)
Hormigas/clasificación , Distribución Animal , Estructuras Animales/anatomía & histología , Estructuras Animales/crecimiento & desarrollo , Animales , Hormigas/anatomía & histología , Hormigas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Tamaño Corporal , Brasil , Ecosistema , Femenino , Larva/anatomía & histología , Larva/clasificación , Larva/crecimiento & desarrollo , Masculino , Tamaño de los ÓrganosRESUMEN
Social parasitism is defined by the exploitation of the social mechanisms of one society by another whole society. Here, we use quantitative ecological data and experiments to identify the components of a new form of social parasitism by the recently discovered "mirror turtle ant," Cephalotes specularis. We show that C. specularis workers visually mimic and actively avoid contact with foragers of the hyperaggressive host ant Crematogaster ampla, allowing them to move freely in the extensive and otherwise defended foraging networks of host colonies. Workers from parasite colonies have immediate access to these networks by nesting exclusively within host territories, and 89% of all potential host territories were parasitized. Inside the network, parasite workers eavesdrop on the host's trail pheromones to locate and exploit food resources that are defended by the host to the exclusion of all other ants. Experiments demonstrated the unprecedented capacity of the parasite for superior foraging performance on its host's pheromone trails than on trails of its own. Considered together, the apparent Batesian-Wallacian mimicry, pheromone-based interceptive eavesdropping, kleptoparasitism, and xenobiotic nesting ecology displayed by C. specularis within the territory and foraging network of a host ant represents a novel adaptive syndrome for social exploitation.
Asunto(s)
Hormigas/fisiología , Hormigas/parasitología , Conducta Alimentaria , Feromonas/fisiología , Animales , Ecosistema , Interacciones Huésped-ParásitosRESUMEN
We describe here Cephalotes specularis n. sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Cephalotini) based on minor and major workers, gynes and larvae from Uberlândia, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. On morphological and molecular grounds, this new species belongs to the C. fiebrigi + C. bruchi species complex, of which there are 11 previously described species (one in C. bruchi group and 10 in the C. fiebrigi group). All members of these groups are found in, or are limited to the South American "arid diagonal", comprised of the Argentinian Chaco, the Cerrados of central South America, and the Brazilian northeastern caatingas. Workers of C. specularis n. sp. have an extremely shiny gaster which is mirror-like, notwithstanding its sparse covering by minute hairs. This species engages in a form of resource-based social parasitism of the host ant Crematogaster ampla (Myrmicinae: Crematogastrini). Cephalotes specularis foragers move freely in the dense traffic of Crematogaster ampla foraging trails. They exhibit highly atypical body posturing for turtle ants, which makes them hard to distinguish from the Crematogaster foragers.
Asunto(s)
Hormigas/ultraestructura , Animales , Brasil , Femenino , Larva/ultraestructura , Especificidad de la EspecieRESUMEN
General principles that shape community structure can be described based on a functional trait approach grounded on predictive models; increased attention has been paid to factors accounting for the functional diversity of species assemblages and its association with species richness along environmental gradients. We analyze here the interaction between leaf-litter ant species richness, the local communities' morphological structure and fundamental niche within the context of a northeast-southeast latitudinal gradient in one of the world's most species-rich ecosystems, the Atlantic Forest, representing 2,700 km of tropical rainforest along almost 20° of latitude in eastern Brazil. Our results are consistent with an ecosystem-wide pattern in communities' structure, with relatively high species turnover but functionally analogous leaf-litter ant communities' organization. Our results suggest directional shifts in the morphological space along the environmental gradient from overdispersed to aggregated (from North to South), suggesting that primary productivity and environmental heterogeneity (altitude, temperature and precipitation in the case) determine the distribution of traits and regulate the assembly rules, shaping local leaf-litter ant communities. Contrary to the expected and most common pattern along latitudinal gradients, the Atlantic Forest leaf litter ant communities show an inverse pattern in richness, that is, richer communities in higher than in lower latitudes. The morphological specialization of communities showed more morphologically distinct communities at low latitudes and species redundancy at high latitudes. We claim that an inverse latitudinal gradient in primary productivity and environmental heterogeneity across the Atlantic forest may affect morphological diversity and species richness, enhancing species coexistence mechanisms, and producing thus the observed patterns. We suggest that a functional framework based on flexible enough traits should be pursued to allow comparisons at local, regional and global levels.