Comunidade de formigas que nidificam em pequenos galhos da serrapilheira em floresta da Amazônia Central, Brasil

Abstract

Community of ants that nest in dead twigs on the ground of Central Amazonian forest, Brazil. A total area of 2,880 m 2 in four forest sites, near Manaus, Brazil, was searched for ant colonies nesting in dead twigs on the ground. An amount of 3,706 twigs (0.5-5 cm in diameter) were gathered, of which only 623 (16.8%) had ants, which is equivalent to a density of 0.22 nests per m 2 . Seventy species have been found. The predominant genera were Pheidole (Westwood), Crematogaster (Lund), and Solenopsis (Westwood). For most species, many of the nests found had only workers and brood, suggesting that colonies either use multiple twigs to nest or do not live exclusively in the twigs, using other types of substrate (e.g., leaf-litter, soil, fruit pods) to nest. Most colonized twigs were hollow or partially hollow inside and relatively easy to break apart. There were significant differences among species with respect to the size (diameter) of twig used as nest. No correlation was found between the number of twigs available and the number colonized by ants, suggesting that ant populations were not limited by the amount of nesting sites (twigs). The three most common Pheidole species had small colonies with less than 200 workers. Colony size was not related to twig size (volume), for any of these three species.

Senescent stem-galls in trees of Eremanthus erythropappus as a resource for arboreal ants

“…Still other species may display behaviors such as cutting the axillary buds of their plants, killing the apical meristems of the canopy as a way to prevent invasion from neighboring ants. Furthermore, Carvalho & Vasconcelos (2002) suggest that ant species known to create larger colonies, such as many species of the Crematogaster, may turn to creating polydomic nests as a way of dealing with space restrictions caused by twigs, which may play a part in explaining the results of this study as well.…”

“…(Annonaceae). These authors suggest that the ants' choice of habitat is subject to strong selective pressure, given that it impacts the fitness of the queen and that securing a safe, suitable location for nesting is crucial to the survival of the colony (Carvalho & Vasconcelos 2002).…”

Diversidade e riqueza de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em remanescentes de Mata Atlântica na Bacia Hidrográfica do Alto Tietê, SP

“…Outros estratos também devem ser analisados, como sementes ) e troncos/galhos caídos na serapilheira (Carvalho & Vasconcelos 2002, Fernandes et al 2012. Determinadas espécies especialistas nidificam nesses locais, como é o caso de Typhlomyrmex rogenhoferi (Lacau et al 2004, Delabie et al 2007) registrada na serapilheira das áreas de Floresta Ombrófila Densa da Barragem de Biritiba Mirim e do Parque Estadual Nascentes do (Nafus 1993, Harris & Barker 2007, Vanderwoude et al 2000, Hoffmann 2010).…”

Efeitos de fatores ambientais sobre a mirmecofauna em comunidade de restinga no Rio de Janeiro, RJ

“…Estiveram ausentes dessa comunidade as espécies que dependem sobremaneira da serapilheira, como várias espécies de Ponerinae e Ectatomminae. Espécies de Hypoponera e Gnamptogenys nidifi cam frequentemente em galhos secos (Carvalho & Vasconcelos 2002) e predam pequenos artrópodes que vivem na serapilheira (Hölldobler & Wilson 1990). Segundo Andersen (2000), as espécies de Hypoponera são mais abundantes e diversas em ambientes de fl orestas onde formam um componente importante da fauna de serapilheira em fl orestas tropicais úmidas.…”