Geometric shape analyses were used to study body shape and size variation among populations of the livebearing fish Poecilia vivipara inhabiting the recently formed coastal lagoons of Grussaí and Iquipari in Northern Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The largest components of morphological variation among females were between different habitats in the same lagoon, whereas for males there were larger differences between lagoons than between habitats. The shape differences were mostly localized in the head region and midbody, which indicated different patterns of locomotion and foraging behaviour optimized for the habitat experienced by each population. The pattern of size variation was similar to that of size‐independent shape variation.

In this study, we used recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and recurrence plots (RPs) to compare the movement activity of individual workers of three ant species, as well as a gregarious beetle species. RQA and RPs quantify the number and duration of recurrences of a dynamical system, including a detailed quantification of signals that could be stochastic, deterministic, or both. First, we found substantial differences between the activity dynamics of beetles and ants, with the results suggesting that the beetles have quasi-periodic dynamics and the ants do not. Second, workers from different ant species varied with respect to their dynamics, presenting degrees of predictability as well as stochastic signals. Finally, differences were found among minor and major caste of the same (dimorphic) ant species. Our results underscore the potential of RQA and RPs in the analysis of complex behavioral patterns, as well as in general inferences on animal behavior and other biological phenomena.

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which is part of the ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, is a compilation of ant records from collections (18,713 records), unpublished data (29,651 records), and published sources (106,910 records; 1,059 references), including papers, theses, dissertations, and book chapters published from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.

Perreyia flavipes Konow, 1899 (Pergidae: Perreyinae) is a sawfly species with gregarious larvae commonly found in open areas in southern Brazil through Uruguay and northern Argentina. The combination of highly gregarious larvae with the production of a variety of toxins in P. flavipes has led to severe cases of intoxication in a variety of livestock species. Over the years, considerable information was discovered on the larval natural history of P. flavipes; however, virtually nothing is known about the adult behavior, particularly because of its short life-span. In this study, we report on the first extensive study on the adult behavior of P. flavipes, including movement, mating (with oviposition and maternal care), and thanatosis. Our results show some unusual behavioral adaptations presented by P. flavipes, such as irregular activity behavior (i.e., deficient gait pattern), thanatosis behavior-like display, and primitive maternal care. Individual behavioral acts are described and compared among sexes, and their potential functions are discussed.

Social insects present behavioral, morphologic and social variation, which bring ideal situations to study emergent temporal-spatial patterns. In this study, we observe the self-organization in the movement activity of social insects in different species and densities. In our preliminary results, all the species observed present a pattern more complex in higher densities and with structural differences between them.